We All Have Our Needs
by LivingTheSPNLife
Summary: Modern college AU, MikaxYuu multi-chapter. We all have our needs, but what happens when someone takes up all of the washers and leaves you with nothing? Yuu is not having it and Mika loves to make his life miserable, but things change as they grow closer after their laundry encounters.
1. And So It Begins

His first year of college was meant to be stressful and challenging, but Yuichiro had never imagined he would face such a challenge within the first six weeks. Surprisingly, the challenge wasn't class-related; rather it was dorm related. It wasn't a roommate issue, which Yuu knew wouldn't be much of a problem anyway since he lucked out enough to room with one of his close friends. It wasn't an issue on his floor; he didn't talk to most of the people in his dorm hall, so he didn't have any issues with them other than the annoying guys across the hall who partied until two a.m. every morning. No, this challenge was due to the building itself, in which Yuichiro faced an admirable enemy, a faceless enemy: the laundry room.

The first week of school had been fine, as his laundering needs did not come into play until the next week. The second week Yuu had gone down to the basement to wash his clothes on a typical Sunday, only to discover all of them had been taken, and would be continually in use all throughout the day, to his horror. He had barely managed to sneak in a load, vowing that he would never partake in doing laundry on a Sunday.

Saturday afternoons he decided would be his day, succeeding in scoring a washer in the mid-afternoon for two weeks in a row. Yuu thought he would be fine, as most students hadn't settled on a similar course of action, but this was before the fourth week of school hit. The dreaded day had come when he'd walked into that same laundry room to discover every washer had been filled. There were six washers in total since his complex was one of the smaller dorms on campus, which wasn't too bad. The kicker was that they were taken up by one person; one rude, inconsiderate jerk who left a sticky note in apology.

The next week of school ended in the same result, the author of the sticky note offering another stupid apology, mentioning how this would now be a common occurrence and how "sorry" they were if this became an inconvenience. Yuu called bullshit on the note and had crumpled it up in anger and stormed off to his room, vowing next time would be different.

This vow led him to where he was now, prepping his laundry at 1:47, giving him a few minutes to scramble to the washers in order to take one up before the mystery jerk could do so.

"Yuu, why are you in such a rush?"

Yuu, in the middle of shoving his laundry down into his laundry basket, paused to offer a quick answer to his roommate, Yoichi. "For the past two times when I've done my laundry around this time, some bastard ends up taking all of the washers and leaving a lame apology note." Yuu smashed his foot down on his clothes, smashing the rest of it down so that it fit perfectly into the basket. He smiled in satisfaction, turning his head to shoot Yoichi a confident grin. "I'm going to beat him there this time and," Yuu snatched a pen and a post-it note from his desk, holding it up for Yoichi with a devilish expression, "I'm going to write him a note back to see how he likes it."

Yoichi was lying on his stomach on his bed, flipping the page of his textbook before he gave Yuu a nod and a questioning look. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

Yuu moved to grab his wallet, shooting Yoichi a look. "Of course it is! I have laundering needs and that asshole needs to learn to be courteous to others and their habits." Yuu dumped out a few quarters and picked up the handle of his basket, dashing out of the room and down the stairs of his dorm to the basement. Yuu rounded a corner and dashed into the laundry room, nearly toppling over with the heavy basket in his hands as he heard the sound of the washers running. He turned to the washers and dropped his laundry basket at his feet, kicking it across the floor in anger.

Yuu huffed in frustration and stalked to the middle washer that held a taped note to the front of it. Yuu picked it up and crumpled it up, tossing it in the trashcan without looking at it. This had been the third week in a row that this had begun, each time containing the same note that read,

 _Sorry! Just know that these washers are going to good use and that they'll be done shortly!_

 _-M_

Yuu kicked the washer lightly, enough so that he wouldn't break it – that was the last thing his broke ass needed. He grabbed a post-it note and wrote on it, sticking it to the washer. It read:

 _Hey asshole, learn how to use a single washer. The rest of the building would like to do their laundry, too, without worrying about your ass taking them all. Learn some manners, 'M'._

 _-Y_

"There, take that," Yuu muttered, picking up his laundry basket and walking it back up the stairs to his dorm room.

"No luck?" Yoichi asked upon his return, his eyes glued to his textbook.

Yuu huffed out a frustrated breath and threw his laundry to the side, running a hand through his hair. "No. He beat me there, but I still left him a nice little note for him to read."

Yoichi sighed, his eyes flickering to Yuu. "Why don't you change the time you do your laundry at if this bugs you so much? Most people do laundry on a Sunday; it's a Saturday afternoon."

Yuu picked up his backpack and dug out one of the books he'd been assigned to read for English as he answered, "One, this is how I avoid situations like this. You seem to forget that I did try to do it on a Sunday once. Never again. And two," he pulled out the book and tossed his bag aside, eyes casting a glance in Yoichi's direction, "that's what the bastard wants me to do. I refuse to give _M_ that sort of satisfaction."

Yoichi sighed, his eyes returning to his textbook as he flipped another page. "You're hopeless."

"I'm determined, not hopeless. There's a difference."

Yuu arranged his pillows so that he could sit up as he read. He set his phone by his side with an alarm to go off in a half hour to remind him to check the laundry. Though he tried to read, his mind kept focusing on the time and the expression on M's face once he read Yuu's note, imagine a look of surprise at the response. Yuu hoped that the message would get through the guy's skull so that he wouldn't have this issue the next week.

Yuu practically jumped out of his bed once his alarm went off, his hand snatching his laundry basket before he dashed off to the empty laundry room, all of the washers empty as M had managed to throw his clothes in the dryers. Yuu let out a frustrated growl as he began loading in his own laundry, pausing once he noticed a bright pink sticky note sitting on the middle washer. He stuffed in the last of his clothing and set the washer to run before glancing at the note.

 _Hello Y,_

 _If you have such a problem, why don't you do your laundry at another time? Or if you're too stubborn to change your routine, you can try to beat me again next week, if you want to try. We both know it probably won't happen. And talk about manners, if you're swinging around names like that, you must not have any at all. I might have to teach you some. Same day and time next week, alright?_

 _Kisses,_

 _M_

Yuu could feel his eye twitch, his jaw tightening as he crumpled the note and dunked it in the trash. "Bring it," he muttered, stomping upstairs to his room as he figured out a strategy for the next week.

* * *

Mikaela sat at his desk, stifling a yawn as he closed his laptop, halfway finished writing his paper for his health class. It was almost 4 o'clock, the prime time for a nap and a homework break, especially since he'd been working since eight a.m., his only breaks quick enough so he could eat and do his laundry, which he needed to grab from the dryers. He snatched the stack of laundry baskets by his desk and took the stairs down a floor, proceeding to gather the laundry.

He noted there was no note from the angry Y who had responded earlier. Mika wondered if Y had decided to accept his challenge or not, not that it mattered much to Mika. Just hearing that he'd infuriated someone was enough to make him laugh, especially since most of the laundry wasn't his own; rather it was for kids whose families could not afford a washer or to go to the laundry mat.

Mika had found out about a bunch of families in need through the Director of the orphanage Mika had grown up in and offered his help to them. He knew what it was like to not have enough money for basic necessities, and no one deserved do live in such a way. He knew he couldn't do much for the families as a college student, but doing laundry for them each week was one thing he could do.

He knew other people in the dorm probably hated him for taking all of the washers in one go, but he didn't care. All he cared about were the smiles on both the parents' and kids' faces as he brought them laundry and some other gift, usually in the form of food or a toy. Such would be the case today, as he had bought two families a few groceries, a couple of stuffed animals and dolls for the kids, and dog food.

Once he gathered all the laundry, Mika made his way to his car to dump the baskets, making another trip to grab the other items as well as to take a final laundry basket of brand new clothing for the families. Once all of that had been loaded, Mika got into his car to drive off, thinking about the next note he would write to Y – like what choice of words would be most appropriate to use when gloating and such.

Mika chuckled to himself; next week would be fun.

 **A/N: Sorry for such a short first chapter; I promise the others will be longer! I just needed to get this out there since I finally found some inspiration from the newest episode and since I found time between studying and homework. Anyway, please let me know what you guys think of it in a review and thank you for the reads, I hope you enjoyed!**


	2. The Unknown Encounter

_Same day and time, huh?_ Yuu thought, recalling the note that M had left him the weekend prior.

Yuu twisted back and forth in his roller chair, one of the perks of working at an office like he did. Spinning around while his boss was on lunch or out for the day was always the highlight of the day, as his job as an errand boy and secretary for the Department of Sociology on campus usually offered him monotonous tasks like copying, scanning, delivering items, email communications, and more for the professors. In the office he worked at, a large, sliding door window sat so he could easily communicate with students who showed up, but not even that stopped him from having a good time, especially during the slower days. Some days were slower than others, but most days he could easily finish a majority of his homework for classes as he worked during the afternoon when most of the professors in his department were off teaching.

Today happened to be one of the really slow days, as it was Thursday and most of the professors didn't teach Friday classes and had no need for Yuu or any of the other student workers after Thursday mornings. Even though today was a slow day, Yuu hadn't completed much of his homework, his mind wandering off to the most frustrating part of this weekend: figuring out how he would thwart M and rub it in that he had finally bested the fiend. Yuu had brainstormed for a good half hour, finally settling on arriving early, filling up the washers with his own clothes (he knew he would be committing a heinous act just like M, but at this point, he would do anything to beat the guy), and he would camp out to watch the face of his opponent as he realized he'd been defeated.

 _Hmm, I wonder… I could probably convince Yoichi to let me throw his clothes in with mine so it won't look so dumb with my laundry so spread out. Just you wait, M, you'll regret challenging me._

Knocking jolted Yuu from his thoughts, his eyes registering a mop of thick, blond hair and stunning blue eyes staring down at him from the office window. He straightened in his seat and rolled forward to slide open the window for the boy donning a black t-shirt and bright red scarf wrapped loosely around his neck even though the weather was seventy and sunny outside. The outfit was odd, but Yuu liked the combination, hating to admit that it looked great on the boy.

Yuu cleared his throat and his head of those thoughts – this was a work place, he could _not_ keep thinking like that here, especially thoughts about a guy – and greeted him. "Hi there, can I help you?"

"I have a couple of job applications to drop off to you," he said, soft-spoken as he offered up the papers. "They're for my friends. They said you had a job opening or something and that I was to drop these off at this window."

Yuu nodded and took the papers from him, checking them over to make sure they were filled out correctly. He'd worked here for only a few weeks and he'd already seen plenty of forms where students and faculty both had neglected to read directions carefully, which in turn caused Yuu and the other workers headaches as they would have to try to fix the forms or track down the idiots who neglected to fill them out correctly. Mitsuba and Shinoa, the two names on the papers, had done everything they'd been asked to, sparing Yuu the pain of asking them to redo it all.

"I'll be sure to give these to my boss when he comes in tomorrow, thank you," Yuu said, placing the documents on the desk of his supervisor. "I take it you aren't applying for the position?"

Yuu turned in time to see the boy shake his head, a small chuckle rising out of him. "No, I would never fare well working with those two."

Yuu cocked an eyebrow in question, debating whether or not he should tear up the applications before Guren looked them over. If those two applicants were trouble, Yuu did not want them working with him. While it would be nice to have another person working the afternoon shifts with him for the occasional busy days, he would rather suffer alone than deal with some annoying coworker who slacked off all the time. "Is there something wrong with those two?"

The blonde's eyes widened slightly, a small laugh sounding. "No, no, no, they're fine people. They only like to tease a lot, especially Shinoa. Once she starts up, it's difficult to shut her down."

Yuu nodded, breathing in relief. Teasing he could put up with. "Good to know. Is there anything else you needed?"

The boy shook his head. "No, I believe that's all, thank you." He turned and left then, leaving Yuu alone once more.

"Have a good day," Yuu called out before closing the office window, seeing the boy offer a wave of acknowledgement without turning around.

Yuu returned into his original sitting position with his elbow resting on the arm of the chair, chin resting in his hand as he swiveled around. The interaction had lessened the fire he'd had in his brainstorm against the mysterious M, so he could finally continue working on homework until the end of his shift.

* * *

After dropping off the papers, Mika dug out his cellphone from his pocket and dialed Shinoa. He knew she and Mitsuba were transitioning between classes, but she'd asked for him to call regardless after he'd done her the favor.

"Mika, hey!" she answered, the sound of people talking clear as day in the background. Mika could hear her mention something to Mistuba before returning to the call. "So, do you think we'll be hired? How did the office look like? Were there any cute workers? You've _got_ to tell me everything!"

Mika walked down the stairs of the building, pausing on a landing to stare out the window upon dozens of students milling around outside in the sun. "It looked dead today and I didn't see any other applications on the desk, so I would assume you shouldn't have much competition. I didn't really see the office, but I guess it looked fine. Not as glamorous as you'd like, but it's decent."

"Mhmm, but you left out the most important question. Are there any cute workers? Mitsu wants to know if she'll finally find a man to get laid with now that she's a single woman on the prowl." Mika heard Mitsuba protest Shinoa's words, Shinoa shooting back her own retorts until she ended with a burst of laughter, eventually conceding. "I was only kidding, Mitsu. Mika, are you still there?"

Mika rubbed the bridge of his nose as he let out a sigh. "Unfortunately."

He could hear Shinoa pout as she spoke, "Don't be like that, Mika." Shinoa let out a gasp in mock shock. Mika could imagine her placing her hand over her chest as she continued speaking. "Could it be? Was there a worker there that _you_ have your eye on, Mika? It's okay if there is, we can always hook you up when we get the job! Male or female, we can see what we can do for you."

Mika let out a huff of air as he finally continued down the stairs of the building, his cheeks growing red. "Shut up. I don't need you to hook me up with anyone, thank you. If you must know, there was a guy with black hair and green eyes who's probably your type."

" _Now_ you're talking!" Shinoa laughed, relaying the info to Mitsuba. "So when did he say our applications would be looked at?"

"He didn't say, but I'd guess you'll hear from them after the weekend."

"Or did he say it but you didn't listen because you were too busy gazing into those beautiful eyes?" Shinoa gave a dreamy sigh on the other end before continuing, already on Mika's nerves. "I can see it now: a love story where Mika meets his prince in the office, falling in love at first sight. The two weren't sure how the other felt, but eventually-"

"Don't you have class?" Mika deadpanned, walking out of the building and toward his dorm, done with classes and errands for the day.

"You're no fun! Bu you have a point; we'll talk to you later, Mika! Let's grab dinner, okay?" Shinoa hung up the phone without an answer from Mika.

Mika shook his head and stuffed his phone in his pants pocket, wrapping his scarf tighter around his neck despite the warm weather, deep in thought as Shinoa's words echoed in his mind.

 _He did have pretty eyes, now that I think about it._ Mika glanced up at the building the boy worked at, shaking his head. _That stupid story of Shinoa's…where she gets these ridiculous ideas, I'll never know. I don't think I want to know what else is spinning around in that head of hers; it seems like an endless world of fanfictions and ships._ He sighed. _And I'm stuck meeting them for dinner, where she'll pester me more about it…unless…_

Mika snatched his phone from his pocket and dialed the director of his orphanage, waiting three rings until she answered.

"Hello, Mika," she greeted, her voice full of cheer. "How is everything?"

"Things are fine, just finished classes for the day and all. But the reason I called is because I wanted to ask you a question."

"Go on, dear."

"Well, I know I was supposed to drive back to town tomorrow to pick up some more clothes and to say hi to the families, but would you mind if I drove up there today and crashed there for the night?" Mika knew she wouldn't care; she always told Mika he could stay over on the weekend since she and the kids would love to have him, but it felt right to ask her beforehand in case they were busy for whatever reason.

The director paused for a moment, her voice suspicious rather than the cheery tone Mika had been expecting her to answer in. "Don't you have classes on Fridays, Mika? I don't like it if you're skipping. Your grades are important."

Mika bit his lip, kicking himself in the head; he should have known to expect this. Growing up, it had been drilled into their heads that education was important and to take it seriously to do the best they could. Which is why he understood the concern, but it was college; _everyone_ skipped classes on occasion. Missing one class period wouldn't kill him as long as he did his homework and studied.

"Normally that would be true, but my professor has a conference to attend so class is cancelled," Mika lied, his tone casual. He hated to do so, but he knew the director would kill him otherwise. "She emailed us today, so you don't have to worry about that."

The director only seemed to half-believe him, but she accepted it nonetheless. "I suppose if she _did_ cancel it then it's fine." Her tone softened a bit into more what Mika had been expecting. "Regardless, the kids and I will all be happy to see you. I'll make up your bed for you, and please drive safe."

Mika smiled, excited to see everyone. Sure, he made it a point to visit each week whenever he picked up and dropped off the stuff to the families he'd been helping, but he still missed those kids and the director each week, still not acclimated with the dorm sounds as much as he was with the sounds of children racing around the halls, laughing and arguing at all hours of the day.

"Perfect, thank you. I'll see you then."

Mika hung up the phone with a soft smile that slowly morphed into a devilish grin as he sent Shinoa a text to inform her that he would be leaving for home today and how he would see her Sunday. Relief filled him as he would no longer have to suffer Shinoa and Mitsuba's questions about their job and the worker with the pretty eyes. Now he could spend the night in peace before he returned to campus to continue his war with Y.

 **A/N: So here's the second chapter, drop a review to let me know what you think so far; I hope you enjoyed it! The next chapter will be out sometime in the next few weeks; I'm flying back home for break so I'll be quite busy. In any case, thank you to the two reviewers already, the guest Neko Gina and to just normal Guest, I appreciate it. Happy holidays everyone!**


	3. Mika's Prince

Friday

Yuu had successfully earned a yes from Yoichi about adding his clothes to the wash in his attempt to best the mysterious M. Yuu did ask Yoichi to help him bring down the baskets of clothes in exchange for paying for all of the washers they would be using. Yoichi had given him a look and a shake of the head as he muttered something about Yuu being hopeless and this competition being stupid, but he agreed nonetheless.

Now Yuu had to sit through one painful Friday class lecture and a few hours at work and the night until it was time. His only Friday class was a ten a.m. class for English which would be a class discussion on the themes seen throughout the book they had been reading and were supposed to have finished. He'd finished it last night, though he didn't care to partake much in the class discussion. About ten students added comments and debated different points, which seemed acceptable to the professor. She didn't once call upon Yuu to answer a question or to add his thoughts, which was fine by him. It meant he could dose off for a while.

Guren must have seen the applications for those two girls, Yuu guessed. He wondered what Guren would think of them, if he would accept them or not. Guren could be a hardass, but he was a fair boss in both the hiring process and in supervision and training. Though Yuu wondered how Guren would deal with the supposed teasing attitude of Shinoa; it _would_ be interesting to see. Guren had a knack for responding effortlessly to their comments and annoyances at the office, and Yuu could only wonder what this Shinoa girl was capable of. Yuu's thoughts turned to a different direction then.

 _Speaking of those applications, I wonder if that guy really didn't apply because of those two girls… does he have some other job? Or did he see the dinky office Guren has and decided against it at the last minute… I wouldn't blame him if that were the case. Guren needs better décor; he refuses to update any of the furniture or to add much decoration. And were those contacts he was wearing yesterday? I've never seen a shade so blue before on a guy or a girl. They were really pretty actually, they remind me of the ocean._ Yuu paused for a moment, blinking. _What am I thinking? Why do I care if he's wearing colored contacts or if he has another job?_

Yuu shook his head and finally refocused his attention on the professor, catching her mention of a group project, his stomach filling with dread. High school had scarred him for life with the amount of lazy, unfriendly, and uncooperative partners it offered him. At the very least, he hoped to be able to pick his partner, he knew a couple of the students around him appeared to be capable of actually doing their share of the work, but of course lady luck was not on his side.

"I have assigned you into groups of two and three for this project," the professor announced, pointing toward the overhead screen in front of the classroom, names paired with a theme they had discussed over the few weeks of reading the book. "You will take your theme and create a thesis with it, and with that thesis, I would like for your group to write a paper together with evidence that supports your thesis statement. Then I would like for you to set up a five minute PowerPoint presentation for the class. Both will count toward your midterm and are due two weeks from today, any questions?"

Yuu sighed and searched for his name, finding himself under the theme of 'choice' with the name Mikaela Hyakuya paired to his. Yuu didn't recognize the name – he figured he was paired with a shy girl - so he waited for the professor to announce where each group would meet for the last fifteen minutes of class. He picked up his stuff and plopped it a few desks down, his chin resting in his hand as he watched his classmates move around, perking up any time someone would near him.

Finally everyone settled and Yuu found himself alone in his group, pissed that today had to be the day this Mikaela person had chosen to ditch. Now he looked like an idiot in class with no one to talk to but himself about this project since it appeared everyone else had found their partners with ease. He was fortunate they had two weeks to complete this, so at best he could email the Mikaela girl and coordinate a time to meet up to discuss ideas.

He left class early since he had no one to meet with, so he decided to head to work early, figuring Guren wouldn't care. His boss didn't mind; in fact, not a second after Yuu had punched in the work log, a stack of papers flew by his face and onto the desk before him.

"One of the professors dropped off a stack of tests and needs you to email his students their test scores," Guren informed Yuu, dropping a couple of papers next to the stack. "I need you to call the two applicants from yesterday to set up an interview with me. Thanks."

Guren turned to walk back to his desk, but paused when Yuu groaned and commented, "Why do we have to email the students?"

Guren looked over his shoulder at Yuu. "Because when you're a professor with tenure you become lazy and cranky. Just take care of it, stop complaining."

Yuu sighed, hating when professors acted as if the students were their servants. He did like having a job to do so that he wasn't sitting at his desk bored, but that was only when he felt the work was worthwhile, not something the professor gave them because they didn't want to do it themselves. "Why didn't you give this to Kimizuki before I arrived?"

"Because you stopped by just as I was about to." Guren smacked him lightly in the back of the head. "Now shut up and get to work."

Yuu sighed and shook his head, grabbing Shinoa's application first and searching for her number. Once he found it, he dialed and waited for her to answer. When she picked up, Yuu said, "Good morning, Miss Hiragi. This is Yuichiro from the Department of Sociology calling with regards to your application. Mr. Ichinose has reviewed your application and would like to set up an interview with you, when are you available to meet?"

Her voice sounded far away at first as she said, "Oh my, Mitsu, I have an interview!"

"What? Why didn't they call me? I'm more qualified than you!" another voice called out in the background.

Shinoa laughed. "Because they clearly know which of us is the better applicant!" Her voice grew louder as she focused on Yuu. "I'm free Monday afternoon if that works."

Yuu glanced at Guren's calendar on the computer at his desk, finding an empty spot he could pencil her in at. "Does two o'clock work?"

"Perfect! Though, may I ask you one question?"

Yuu began editing Guren's calendar, figuring it must have been an innocent question about the job. "Go ahead."

"This may sound a bit odd, but do you happen to have black hair and green eyes?"

Yuu felt taken aback by the question, his eyebrows knitting together. His eyes darted out the office window to see if he could see anyone talking on a cellphone around. His search came up empty, questions bubbling in his head. "Uh, yes. Why do you ask?" And how did she know?

He heard her giggle and mumble something to who he presumed would be Mitsuba, the words "Mika's prince", "hot voice", and "hallelujah" filtering through the speaker.

Yuu frowned, completely puzzled. Who was this girl? What the hell did Mika's prince mean? Who the hell was Mika? The name didn't ring a bell in Yuu's mind…maybe she had the wrong person. Yuu supposed the hot voice comment must have been a compliment, right? Could a voice really be hot? And had the hallelujah been meant for him? What was he in for if Guren hired her?

"For the interview will I be meeting Mr. Ichinose at the office where the application was dropped off?"

Yuu blinked, surprised at how different her question was to what she had just said to Mistuba. At least she could act professional, he surmised. "Uh, yes, that'll be the place."

"Perfect! Here, you can talk to Mitsu unless her application was rejected…" He heard Shinoa giggle again and then say, "In that case, Mika could replace you and live happily ever after with the green eyed prince!"

Yuu sighed, finally realizing what the blond boy had meant when he said he could never work with those two. He must have mostly been referring to Shinoa; she seemed to be the problem child who seemed to ship him with some unknown entity despite not having made any contact with Yuu other than today. She would be giving him headaches, he could tell already.

Yuu cleared his throat. "If that's all, then yes I can set something up with Miss Sangu."

"Oh Mitsu, maybe he can be your prince now that you have the job!"

Yuu groaned inwardly. This would be a long call…

* * *

Mika's night with the Director had been much needed; for once he didn't have to worry about students milling through the halls at two in the morning drunk off their asses because of 'Thirsty Thursday', laughing and shouting down the halls as they made their way back to their dorms. He didn't have to worry about waking up to other dorm residents yelling for them to shut up or howling out the windows since that had grown to become a thing at his school. He also could eat a good, home cooked meal as opposed to the crappy dorm food the dining halls provided them with. Sleeping in his bed had never felt so good, even if could hear the usual giggles and noises from the other kids in the orphanage.

Mika did feel bad about his lie about Friday classes being cancelled, but it had been worth it for a good night's sleep to familiar sounds and for actual meals. He woken up feeling refreshed and had picked up a couple families' laundry and loaded it into his car for his drive the next day. He had planned to drive back to school that night, but Shinoa had texted him earlier and Mika needed another day of avoidance in hopes she would forget about the job for a moment.

The text had been this:

' _Mika, hey! So guess who has a job interview set up for Monday afternoon?_ '

Not a bad text, right? It seemed innocent enough. That's what Mika had thought at the time, and he had been happy for Shinoa; she really needed the money and the job experience. So he'd replied with, ' _You and Mitsuba? Congrats!_ '

Shinoa had replied back instantly like the devil. ' _Thank you! Your prince actually called to tell us the news ;)_ '

Mika had sighed, wishing he could take back his congratulations. He wasn't surprised she brought up the guy from her work; he knew Shinoa well enough to know she wouldn't let this go, much to his annoyance. Mika didn't want to reply to her comment, but he knew Shinoa would blow up his phone if he didn't. ' _He isn't my prince._ '

' _Oh, so you want Mitsu or I to steal him from you? We can always hook you two up…_ '

Mika did not reply this time. It would be pointless trying to correct Shinoa; she wouldn't stop no matter how many times he told her to drop the subject. Mika only shook his head and stuffed his phone back in his pocket, but it buzzed a few minutes later.

' _Thanks for telling us he sounded hot!_ '

Again, he ignored the text, hoping Shinoa would get the hint. He knew she hadn't when his phone beeped four minutes later.

' _You should apply for the job! How romantic would that be, you meeting your future love at work of all places? You could have a work romance and have hot sex on the boss's desk and steamy make outs in the supply closet… ;)_ '

Mika could feel his eye twitch as he read the text. He had known Shinoa for years, so she knew how to get under his skin. He knew she was only teasing to bait a reaction, and he knew he shouldn't indulge her, but it was hard. Sure, the guy at the desk had been cute, he could admit that, but he had no desire to date a guy or to apply at a job he didn't want to do.

' _Stop shipping me with strangers and get your hormones in check. Go write some smutty fanfictition._ '

' _Want a fanfiction with you and your handsome prince?_ '

' _You disgust me._ '

' _Don't be rude. So when do you get back? Mitsuba and I miss you!_ '

That's when Mika had decided it would be best to return the following morning. He loved Shinoa and Mitsuba, but he knew that they would terrorize him about him and his supposed prince charming, something he did not need. So he gone up to the director after lunch to ask her if he could stay another night. She had graciously offered him his room for the entire weekend, telling him he was welcome to stay the next night as well and do the laundry at the orphanage, but Mika had to decline. It was nice of her to offer, but he still had business to settle with Y. He couldn't back down from the challenge he'd set up himself. He would win this accidental war that had begun and crush every hope and dream Y had of winning.

* * *

Saturday (Showdown Day)

"This has to be some sort of sickness," Yoichi commented as he watched Yuu drag both laundry baskets near the door, the time being around 1:30 in the afternoon, only a few minutes before Yuu planned to take off to fill up the washers.

"If you were in my position, you would be upset, too!" Yuu shot back, pursing his lips as he stared at his clean clothes that hung in the closet. He knew between his pile and Yoichi's pile of clothing he could fill up the washers with a decent amount of clothes, but he wanted to make sure he wouldn't be completely wasteful like he bet the mysterious M was. He theorized M had a messy room, a room so messy he couldn't decipher which clothes were clean and which were dirty, and that was why he used every washer each weekend. So Yuu tore off clothes from his hangers and began adding them to the piles of laundry, not caring what anyone else would think of him.

Yoichi stomped over and pried a hanger from Yuu's hands, blocking the closet from Yuu's reach as he pushed the hanger in Yuu's face. "Yuu, you have to stop this madness! Don't you understand that you are fighting over _laundry_? It's laundry, get over it!"

Yuu placed a hand over his chest, acting as if Yoichi had committed a huge betrayal. "I thought you understood, Yoichi. Are you taking M's side now?"

Yoichi shook his head and rolled his eyes, placing the hanger back in Yuu's closet. "Stop overreacting. You're making yourself crazy with this obsession. Pick another day to do your laundry."

Yuu shook his head and crossed his arms in a pout. "Hell no. That'd be too easy for M. I can't let him win."

Yoichi sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose as he pointed toward Yuu's messy basket, clothes strewn about, hanging out of it in all directions. "You were just adding _clean_ clothes to your pile of _dirty_ clothes. I don't think I can allow this to continue as your roommate. I care about your sanity."

Yoichi moved to grab his laundry pile, but Yuu grabbed his arm to stop him. "Yoichi, you can't do this to me! Let me have this today; I'll beat M and we won't have to worry about this, I promise!"

Yoichi cocked an eyebrow, disbelief written all over his face. "This is a sickness. And I'm a horrible person for allowing you to go through this, but fine. This is the last time though; I can't go another weekend with you freaking out over this, okay? I want my sane roommate back."

Yuu grinned and pulled Yoichi into a brief hug before he realized it was time for them to head down. He released Yoichi and stuffed a sticky note and pen into his pocket before picking up his laundry basket, opening the door and waiting for Yoichi.

"The sooner you pick up that basket, the sooner we can load the laundry and the sooner you get your sane roommate back," Yuu coaxed, inclining his head toward the laundry pile.

Yoichi hesitantly picked it up and followed Yuu to the laundry room, muttering about how he hated this obsession the entire minute walk there. Yuu only laughed and stormed down the stairs to the basement quickly, marching into the laundry room only to freeze when he heard the washers sounding. He dropped his stuff where he stood and marched over to the washers – all of which were in use, of course – and snatched up the piece of notebook paper taped to the middle washer.

 _Hello Y,_

 _Were you too scared to take my challenge or was it that you were too slow to beat me? What a shame, I was hoping to at least catch you walking in here as I left so I could see the miserable look that must be on your face now. The challenge is still open for the next week if you'd like to try again. I look forward to beating you once more._

 _-M_

Yuu crumpled the paper as soon as he finished reading the note, muttering, "That bastard!" He couldn't believe he had lost again. When did M prep his laundry at? How was Yuu supposed to beat him if M kept prepping his laundry earlier and earlier each week?

"Just my luck…Yuu, give up on this, please," Yoichi urged.

Yuu ignored him and dug out his sticky notes and pen to write M back, his handwriting furious and sloppy as he did, though it was still legible. M would not get away with this crime, Yuu vowed to win the next time around, even if he had to put in his laundry at one rather than two.

"Yoichi, we're camping down here to wait and see who that damn M is! I need to give them a piece of my mind," Yuu said, slapping the note onto the middle washer before spinning around to face Yoichi.

His roommate, however, didn't seem to share the same enthusiasm Yuu had over this idea. "Um, _you_ can wait for M. I will take my laundry upstairs so I can continue working on my criminology paper."

Yuu kicked his laundry to the wall, shrugging. "Fine, I'll wait here." He stomped over to the lone table in the laundry room and pulled out a chair, taking a seat and kicking his legs up onto the table. "I'll tell you how it goes when I get back."

"Please don't," Yoichi muttered, picking up his clothes and leaving. "Have fun."

Yuu waited about thirty minutes in the laundry room in silence, no one walking inside, though plenty of students passed by heading to the other basement facilities the dorm offered. He waited, his eyes narrowed out the door as he awaited for the mysterious M to appear, practically jumping out of his seat each time he heard someone walking by, hoping it would be the culprit, though it never was.

It wasn't much longer until he heard two girls talking before they walked into the laundry room, the washers shutting off then. Yuu realized he finally had his chance to confront M once and for all.

Yuu stood up then and crossed his arms, scrutinizing the purple and blond haired girls. "Which one of you is M? Who thought that taking up the washers was a good idea? Because it's a stupid idea that's spiteful and rude! Other people want to do their laundry, too, you know!"

The blond girl's eyes widened as she shot a questioning gaze at her friend, gesturing toward he purple haired girl's laundry basket in hand. "Calm down, we're here to drop off our laundry as soon as the washers open up."

Yuu watched the purple haired girl smirk, elbowing her friend as her chin gestured toward Yuu. "Prince," she coughed into her hands, her friend finally widening her eyes and looking Yuu over before nodding.

 _Prince? Where have I heard that…oh no._

Yuu's eyes widened when he realized that these two must have been the girls he had called the day before, most likely his future coworkers after Monday afternoon. And he'd freaked out and yelled at them unknowingly. They probably thought he was some rude, dumbass with an obsession over laundry, and they realized he was from their office. Yuu didn't know how to act; he couldn't just stand there and gawk at them, but he didn't know how to begin apologizing for the outburst.

So Yuu grabbed his laundry basket and practically ran out of the laundry room, yelling out, "Sorry, my mistake!"

He bumped into someone in his haste, looking back as they passed him to apologize when he realized it was Pretty Eyes from the other day. Yuu's face flushed in embarrassment as he hurried out of the basement, cursing himself and M for this damn competition. Way to make an impression on his workers…

* * *

"Sorry, my mistake!"

It taken Mika a second to realize the boy who had apologized to him had been the one from Shinoa and Mitsuba's work, a fact that Shinoa pointed out the moment he arrived.

"Mika, your prince is very angry with you for taking up all of the washers apparently. He was just in here yelling at us, mistaking us for you," Shinoa said with a devilish smile. "I almost wanted to tell him to wait for his love, but he rushed off before I could."

Mika rolled his eyes, not bothering to reply to her insane fantasy and walked over to the washer where he found Y's sticky note on it. "Hmm, I wonder if this is him…"

 _M,_

 _I hate you. You said same and time and place; as in two in the afternoon, not one. Low blow, asshat. I'll take on your challenge next week and we'll see who sees whoever's miserable face, got it? Our start time will be two o'clock as previous. Have fun crying to your mommy once I beat you there._

 _Y_

"What's this?" Shinoa asked, standing on her tiptoes to try to peek over Mika's shoulder. "Is this a love letter from your prince? Why didn't you tell me you two were in contact?"

Mika tossed the note in the trash before Shinoa could read it, opening a washer to place the laundry in the dryer. "I've been writing back to this person named Y about laundry. We have a competition going, and that just might be who the mysterious Y is."

"Oh, even more shipping ammo," Shinoa said with a wink, moving to stuff her clothes in the washer Mika had just cleaned out. "You two should just kiss and get over it already."

Mika rolled his eyes. "It's too fun to piss him off."

"So you wouldn't mind kissing him?"

Mika's face blushed a light shade of pink at the preposterous question. He didn't know where Shinoa thought of these terrible ideas, and he wished she'd get off of whatever shipping island she was on before she drove him insane. "I didn't say that. I'm not kissing anybody any time soon, get your mind out of the gutter."

"Alright, but I'm still writing that fanfiction about you two! A love affair in the office during the week, and a cute competition over laundry in which you two will one day see each other, gazing into each other's eyes before you passionately kiss and apologize for it all!"

Mika sighed, covering his eyes with his hands as he shook his head. He seriously questioned his friendship with her sometimes. _What is my life?_

 **A/N: Here is the new chapter! I had a lot of fun writing this one, so I hope you all enjoy it; I hope I'm doing a good job portraying the characters - as always, drop a review to let me know your thoughts! And thank you all for the reviews BitterArchfiend, Jared, Guest, CrescentMoonTenshi, and Lotus Sword and all of the follows/favorites, I appreciate it! I'm glad to hear that you guys are enjoying the story! Happy New Year's everyone!**

 **CrescentMoonTenshi - That's why I love writing Shinoa's lines, poor Mika and Yuu just don't realize she's right**

 **Lotus Sword - I'm glad you like the idea; you understand the struggle! But I know, Mika and Yuu are my OTP, I swear if they don't become canon I'll be so upset.**


	4. The Formal Meeting

Monday

After Yuu had scrambled back to the room, he'd crawled under the blankets on his bed to bury himself in humiliation. Yoichi hadn't asked how the encounter had gone, but Yuu filled him in anyway, groaning and whining as he did. Yoichi had sympathized with him, though he also lectured Yuu about how if he hadn't been so consumed with his rage over something stupid as laundry, his blow up at his potential coworkers could have been avoided. Yuu only buried himself deeper in his blankets, ignoring Yoichi's lecture to inform his roommate that he was no longer the mortified Yuichiro Amane, but that he was a burrito who was done with life. Yoichi had no comment other than to tell him he still had to do his laundry at some point – which he did eventually do, but until later that night so he wouldn't see Pretty Eyes or the two girls.

 _I blame M for putting me in this position, I wouldn't have been there in the first place if he hadn't stolen the washers,_ Yuu thought glumly as he slammed his backpack down on his seat. He took out his English book, folder, pencil, and notebook out for class, setting his bag next to him as he sat down. _I'll just have to beat him next time, load up all of the washers first and pay Yoichi to keep an eye out for anyone with a large load of laundry so that I know when to start all of the washers. Then I can watch as M walks in, their stupid, smug grin replaced with the face of defeat. But I suppose I'll have to wait six days._

Yuu rested his head in his hand, smiling to himself as he patiently waited for the rest of class to fill in, wishing the week would pass by quickly. He picked up his pencil and twirled it in his fingers, eyes glancing up to the clock to see he had another three minutes until class started. _My partner better be here today or I'm going to go almost as insane as M makes me. Then poor Yoichi will never see the sane side of me again until the end of the semester._ He focused his eyes back on his pencil until a blur of red and yellow caught his eye a minute later. The pencil dropped out of Yuu's hand, his eyes widening as he tried to shy his face away from the other side of the room.

 _No, no, no…_ he's _here? Since when did_ he _enroll into my class?_

Yuu poked his head up a bit, his eyes landing on the familiar mop of blond hair and red scarf from the other day that sat down in a desk even seats away from Yuu, about the same spot Yuu had sat when he waited for his no-show of a partner. Pretty Eyes bore an unamused expression as he grabbed his own notebook and novel from his bag, sitting back in his seat as he waited for class to start. Yuu breathed a sigh of relief; he was glad Pretty Eyes hadn't seemed to notice him. He probably had heard about Yuu's outburst from his friends and thought him to be some hotheaded idiot.

 _How did I not realize he was in my English class?_ Yuu returned his gaze to the front of the class where the professor was setting up the projector, taking in a deep breath. _Whatever, at least I don't have to worry about being paired with him considering I have that Mikaela girl who better be here. Otherwise I'll have to skip out on class again._

The professor cleared her throat as soon as the clock struck ten, the projector lighting up the screen with group names and themes. "For those of you who may have missed class or don't remember your groups, here you are. I'll point out where you're to meet up at; you have today in class to work more on idea for your paper and presentation."

Once she designated the same spots to each group, a chorus of student's talking and the screeching of desks against the tile floor sounded. Yuu picked up his stuff and dodged moving students and desks until he made his way over to where Pretty Eyes was sitting. Yuu paused a moment, hesitating. He didn't know where Pretty Eyes was supposed to be, but he sure as hell knew it wasn't in his group. He wondered if the boy had gotten confused, though Yuu _really_ didn't want to be the one to tell him differently.

It seemed he had to be the one, though, so he inhaled deeply and set his stuff in the seat next to Pretty Eyes, clearing his throat as he drew the attention of those gorgeous blue eyes, recognition flooding through them. Yuu's pulse began racing, his cheeks flushing as he mustered the courage to say, "You know this is where the choice group is supposed to sit, right?"

Pretty Eyes' face grew animated then, his lips curling up in the corners as he shifted his torso toward Yuu, draping his arm across the back of the chair. His eyes looked at Yuu with curiosity. "Yes, I know," he answered, his voice calm, sounding as if he were waiting for Yuu to continue.

Yuu's face wrinkled in confusion. Wouldn't that cue Pretty Eyes into moving? Or was he the type to act like stupid M where he liked to pester people and annoy them to no end. "So are you sure you're in the right group?" Yuu hated to put it so bluntly, but if this guy was only here to cause problems, then-

"Considering that my name is Mikaela Hyakuya, yes I do believe I'm in the right place."

Yuu's mouth dropped open. So his partner wasn't some shy girl? Why did he have to have the worst luck? Out of all the other students in his class, why was he put with Pretty Eyes? And why did he have to make himself look like an ass _again_ by assuming he wasn't meant to be there? And why were those gorgeous eyes of his staring at Yuu as if they could see his soul?

 _Get ahold of yourself, if you don't say anything you'll look more like an idiot._

"Sorry, I guess I wasn't thinking," he said with a shaky laugh, setting his backpack on the floor as he sat down next to Mikaela, angling his desk more toward his partner. "I'm Yuichiro, by the way, but just call me Yuu."

Mikaela nodded, shifting his desk so that he faced Yuu, leaning back into his seat and resting one leg on his knee. "Nice to meet you, Yuu. Feel free to call me Mika."

 _Mika? Oh no. So Pretty Eyes is the one those girls were pairing me up with?_ Yuu found his cheeks tinting with pink at the thought, shaking his head. _I'm his prince? How the hell does that make sense? And why him?_

"Is something the matter?" Mika questioned, taking Yuu aback.

 _Isn't he going to say something about snapping at his two friends? Or is he going to ask me if I'm the same person he dropped the applications to? Why do I feel so nervous? Is it because I'm supposed to be his prince or something? I need to calm down and get this out of my head._

Yuu cleared his throat and opened his notebook to a blank sheet. "I'm fine. Alright, Mika, we should get to work on ideas for our paper and presentation. Do you have any ideas to start us off with?"

Mika shrugged, opening up the assigned novel to the first place, his face growing serious as he began reading. "About that… I didn't do the reading yet."

Yuu deadpanned, shooting Mika something short of a glare. Had he heard his partner right? He didn't do _any_ of the reading? Of _course_ Yuu would have to do all of this on his own. "You didn't read at all?" Yuu said through tight lips, trying his best to remain calm. He didn't need to embarrass himself with another random outburst, but keeping his temper in check would prove to be difficult.

Mika glanced up from his reading, an impassive expression on his face. "Is there a problem? You look a little upset, why is that? Did you not do the reading either?"

"Oh I wonder what the problem could be," Yuu muttered, crossing his arms over his chest as he stared at Mika with narrowed eyes. "Of course I did the reading!" he hissed quietly to avoid disrupting the class. "Will you be able to complete the reading by Friday? That way we can at least have the weekend and that week to work."

Mika shrugged, his eyes landing back to the reading. "I don't know… I'm a very busy person you know. I might be able to by next Wednesday, but that's pushing it…"

Yuu exhaled loudly in frustration, roughly grabbing his book and flipping through the pages. "Fine, I guess I'll just have to do most of the work myself."

Mika burst into a round of laughter at Yuu's comment, holding his stomach as he did. He banged a fist softly on the table, trying to contain his laughter after a minute, speaking between breaths. "Did you really think," He took in another laughing breath, "that I didn't," Another round of laughter cut in, "finish the reading?"

All of the anger Yuu had been feeling vanished for a moment, replaced by utter shock at Mika's statement. "W-what? You…you did the reading?"

That sent Mika into a rage of laughter once more, his hand flying up to his face to wipe away tears. "Of course I did," he said, beginning to calm down. "Your face… I totally had you!"

The anger filled Yuu once more, his cheeks heating up in embarrassment that he'd been fooled. What the hell was wrong with this kid? Yuu was glad he hadn't applied for the job with Shinoa and Mitsuba; he couldn't have handled dealing with him.

Yuu picked up his book and purposely covered his face with it so he didn't see Mika. "Whatever, can we get to work now?" _Bastard, that's what he is._

"Shinoa's always telling me how uptight I am, but she clearly hasn't met you," Mika commented. "Sure, sure, we can get to work if you'd like. I have a few ideas of where we could start for the evidence; we can decide the thesis later."

Yuu breathed in relief, glad to see Mika _finally_ was willing to be serious. He usually wasn't so uptight – at least he didn't think so – but for some reason, Mika could easily get under his skin it seemed. It must be why he and Shinoa are friends; they both know how to annoy people. He set the book down and picked up his pencil. "Lay it on me."

* * *

Mika had to admit that he had been surprised that his supposed prince Yuu was his partner for the class. Out of everyone there, he had been randomly selected to pair with his potential rival Y. He wondered if this was coincidence or fate, or if it was some joke the universe had decided to play out of spite. Either way, this would give Mika the chance he needed to assess if Yuu was his rival or not. He was pretty confident that he was – he didn't know too many people who would be as upset about laundry and Yuu's name matched up with Y's perfectly.

But as he suspected, he was correct. As soon as Mika saw Yuu's handwriting – handwriting he'd come to recognize the past few weeks - he knew for sure that Yuu was the mysterious Y he had been disputing over laundry with. His eyes glanced up at Yuu's face, his partner clueless as ever. He must not have realized that Mika was the mastermind behind the hell he underwent just for laundry or else he would've rounded on him in a heartbeat. Mika was surprised Yuu hadn't taken a guess if Mika was M, but this would work well in Mika's favor.

He'd already had a good time upsetting Yuu, though he did feel a little insulted that Yuu had thought he was stupid enough to mix up his groups. It had made him feel better to prove him wrong, though. He did have to wonder why Yuu suddenly looked so squeamish the moment he'd said to call him Mika…but if he had talked to Shinoa and Mitsuba at all, they probably said something to him that struck him then. He didn't think he wanted to know at this point; if he knew all those two did, he would go completely insane.

He smiled to himself, chuckling inwardly as his partner wrote down Mika's ideas innocently. Mika could imagine the sort of outburst he would have the moment he found out who Mika was. He would be so pissed off – more so than he was with the joke about not reading the material - but Mika knew better than to bring up his discovery to Yuu; he'd let his partner figure it out with enough time. It would be more worth it then to have Yuu put the pieces into place than to have Mika outright tell him, though Mika had to be careful. One wrong move and Yuu could easily find out who he was. This way, Mika could enjoy annoying Yuu both anonymously and in person, the best of both worlds.

"So, when are you free to meet up after school to work more on this?" Mika asked curiously, wondering if Yuu would volunteer his Saturdays or if he would rather continue his competition with M instead.

Yuu set his pencil down to stretch for a moment. "Pretty much any afternoon Monday through Sunday after 4:30," he answered, letting out a yawn.

Mika raised an eyebrow. "You aren't free Saturdays before 4:30?" he asked casually, watching Yuu closely.

Yuu shook his head, picking up his pencil and twirling it around his fingers. "Nope. I have other obligations to attend to that day."

 _He really wants to beat me that much?_ Mika thought, laughing internally. Yuu was turning out to be an interesting person, and it pleased him to know he could drive someone so mad that they would obsess over him. Well more over beating him, but it was the same nonetheless. He almost pitied Yuu; he probably would have pitied the boy if it weren't so fun to frustrate him.

"That's fine," Mika said, fighting a smile. He didn't need Yuu questioning why he was smiling at him; he couldn't give away his identity, not now. "Does Wednesday work?"

Yuu nodded. "I can meet you at the library at five if that's fine."

"That works perfectly." _Now I have more days to annoy him. I'll have to think up ideas on how to proceed from here._

* * *

After dealing with the ever annoying – and surprisingly cooperative – Mika, Yuu breezed through his next few classes until it was time for him to head off to work. Kimizuki had the same shift he did, the two of them relieving the student worker who was on the job before them. Once the two had signed into work, Kimizuki offered to let Yuu sit in the work room while he did most of the work in the main office, claiming a professor had asked him to do something and that was the reason. He warned him not to get used to it and hog all of the time in the back. Yuu had rolled his eyes and grabbed his stuff, walking to the back room to work on some homework.

He'd had a good half hour to himself until a professor had handed him something to scan and give to Guren, which Yuu did as he asked. Though if he had been smarter, he would have realized that it was now two o'clock, the time when he had scheduled Shinoa for her interview with Guren. He hadn't realized it though, so he casually strolled into Guren's office and placed the paper on his desk. As he moved to head back to the work room, he heard Kimizuki slide open their office window to ask whomever was there if he could help them. But he froze when he heard who it was.

"Hello, I'm Shinoa Hiragi, I have an interview with Mr. Ichinose today," she brightly answered.

Yuu peered over his shoulder, watching as Guren stood up and nodded to the girl. "Alright, let's get this over with in the conference room. If you'll follow me, I can take you there."

Yuu scrambled out of the room and dashed down the hall into the work room before Guren had a chance to step out of the office. Breathing heavily, his eyes darted about the room in hopes to find a hiding spot since Guren had a tendency of giving all of his employees a meet-and-greet tour of the main offices, faculty, and other workers on duty. Formally being introduced to Shinoa was not something he preferred to do today after his bad luck being paired up with Mika.

He sighed in frustration, the work room full of supply cabinets stacked to the brim with any school supply one could think of, the copier machine, the professor mailboxes, and the student work desk. He hated to do so, but he was desperate enough to, so he stalked over to the desk, grabbed his pencil, and crawled underneath the desk. He sat and waited, hoping Guren would think he had run to the bathroom and tell Shinoa to meet him another day. He probably waited a good fifteen minutes before he heard footsteps sound in the hallway, Guren's voice floating down.

"Alright, here we are. Kimizuki, meet your new coworker," Guren said, his voice sounding more muffled as Yuu guessed he'd brought Shinoa into the office and had shut the door. Another minute passed and he heard Guren's voice sound louder and closer as the two neared the work room. "Our other student worker today is in the back, which is what generally happens when two students are staffed."

Yuu heard Guren and Shinoa step to the office. He pressed his body up against the desk to make himself more unseen, hoping that they would just leave. But of course, they didn't leave. Rather, Guren strolled over to the desk and bent down to meet Yuu's eyes. "What do you think you're doing, idiot Yuu?" he asked, straightening.

Yuu nervously held up his pencil, silently cursing himself for not trying to pack himself into a supply cabinet. "Uh, I dropped my pencil and I was just grabbing it," Yuu answered, trying his best to sound casual.

Guren shook his head but said nothing more on the matter. "Stand up, I have someone for you to meet."

Yuu sighed and dropped his pencil back on the desk as he stood up, watching as Shinoa's lips curled into a devilish smile. "So we officially meet! You're much cuter when you aren't yelling at innocent bystanders," she said with a wink.

Yuu's eyes widened. Out of _all_ the things she could have said, she had to say _that_ in front of Guren? She really would be making his life a living hell. Between her, Mika, and M, he didn't know who made his life worse. "I apologized, didn't I?" he mumbled, crossing his arms and looking away from Shinoa, her gaze seeming to burn through him.

"You two know each other?" Guren questioned, his eyes shifting between the two. "Is she an ex-girlfriend?"

"What? No! I barely even know her," Yuu responded, knowing he shouldn't have freaked out as much as the question, but with all the stress from Saturday and today, he had every right to explode.

Shinoa laughed, turning back to Guren. "No, we have a mutual friend."

 _Mutual friend, my ass._ Yuu didn't see him ever becoming friends with Mika, not with all the pranks he seemed to like to pull. No thank you, he had enough stress in his life.

"Something like that," Yuu muttered.

"Alright, well Yuu, Shinoa will be working with you on Mondays and a little bit on Friday, so I'm expecting you to train her," Guren said.

"What?" Yuu had to have misheard Guren. He couldn't train Shinoa, not if he wanted some peace of mind. "Why don't you have Kimizuki do it? He's been here a semester longer than I have," Yuu sputtered, knowing Kimizuki was a more valid option.

"Are you questioning me?" Guren shot Yuu a hard look that meant Yuu had better shut up and comply or else he faced consequences.

Yuu sighed and shook his head. "No, sir. I'll train her."

Guren's face relaxed into a grin. "Good, then you should have no problems. Shinoa, if he acts like an idiot, feel free to tell me so I can straighten things out."

"Oh I will. I'll see you later, Yuichiro!" Shinoa called out, waving bye to him before she stepped out of the office, Guren leading the way.

Yuu returned to his desk, defeated. His worst nightmare was coming true: Shinoa had gotten the job and now he would never have a day to himself where he could relax. He groaned, hating his life. He wondered what sweet hell the rest of the week held for him.

 **A/N: Here is the next chapter! I wasn't planning on updating this quickly, but between your wonderful reviews, how much fun I'm having writing this, and with my roommate flying into town, I thought an update was in order. I am not sure when the next one will be out, but be looking for it in about a week or two! I know, it'll be a bit of a wait, so I'll try to update as soon as I can. Thank you everyone for the reviews/follows/favorites - I appreciate it! As always, feel free to drop a review with your thoughts!**

 **TheGreatMasterHide - I'm glad to hear you're enjoying the story! It's a tough struggle, I know. Here's your update!**

 **TheCandyChild - Mika's savagery is not going away anytime soon, I'm glad you're liking that aspect of his character and that you're liking the story! Here's your formal meeting and update!**

 **Lotus Sword - Here's a bit of their interaction as partners; I promise next chapter will have even more!**

 **CrescentMoonTenshi - We will actually see more of Mitsuba in the next chapter; so you'll get to see what she thinks of it all when she works with Yuu!**

 **BitterArchfiend - I hope their reactions to being partners was to your liking!**

 **Alison Wilson 101 - Haha I'm glad to hear you're enjoying the story - don't worry, you only gave me more motivation to finish this chapter! I hope you enjoyed this update!**


	5. The Ship That Sails Itself

Monday – The dinner after interviews

"So I formally met your prince, Mika," Shinoa said playfully once she, Mika, and Shinoa had filled their plates with food and sat down. The three had agreed to grab dinner at their dining hall, a fact that Mika would soon regret as Shinoa and Mitsuba sat across from Mika intentionally so they could watch him squirm.

 _This is why I wished I could have stayed at the orphanage longer_ , Mika thought to himself, groaning inwardly. He'd forgotten the two had interviewed today for their job earlier…and now he was kicking himself for not realizing sooner.

Mika stabbed at the food on his plate, Shinoa's and Mitsuba's gazes burning holes through him. He could tell they were waiting for a reaction, but Mika kept a bored expression on his face, his eyes barely glancing up at them. "And?"

"He said to tell you hello and that he misses you," Shinoa said without skipping a beat. "You should visit him at work and introduce yourself. It would make him so happy and then we could see the ways your eyes will light up as you see each other once more. You'll look away, surprised at the beautiful boy and he'll look down at your lips, licking his own as he thinks, 'I want to take him right here and now'. Doesn't that sound wonderful, Mitsu?"

Mitsuba laughed, nodding her head. "I can see it exactly. And then Mika will look up at his prince, run a hand through his hair and show off his best model face as he goes to scoop his love off his feet and into the sunset."

Mika took a bite of his food, shooting both girls an unamused look. "One, you two have too much free time on your hands. Two, I don't ever attempt to show off a model face. I don't even know what that means. And three, I already met Yuu so your weird fantasy about us meeting will never come true, not that any of that is realistic in the slightest," he said, grabbing his drink and taking a sip.

"You met him already without telling us?" Shinoa said, her eyes wide with devilish excitement as she leaned forward to look at Mika.

 _Why did I have to open my mouth about that?_

Mika nearly choked on his water, cursing himself for letting it slip that he and Yuu had met. He'd meant to keep that a secret to avoid the situation he had just put himself in. He would never live it down now. "I met him today," he replied, knowing they would never drop the topic until they prodded him for more information. "So I take it you guys have the job?"

"Nice try at changing the subject," Mitsuba said, leaning back in her seat and crossing her arms. "So how'd you meet him?"

"Does it matter?"

Shinoa scoffed. "Do you not know us, Mika? Of _course_ it matters! I demand to know everything that happened!" She shot a fangirl-ish smile at Mitsuba. "Our ship is beginning to sail itself."

Mika rolled his eyes and rested his chin in his hand. He questioned his choice in friends, as he always did. Sometimes he wondered why he put up with all of this torture. "I met him in English. We're partners for a project." He knew he shouldn't be telling them this; this would only be more shipping ammunition for Shinoa and Mitsuba, but they would drive him nuts with questions if he didn't. "That's all there is to the story, so if you ask me anything else, I won't answer."

"What were the first words you exchanged with each other?" Shinoa piped in, raising an eyebrow. "Does he know that you're the laundry culprit?"

"No, he doesn't know about that, and I intend to keep it that way."

Shinoa grinned. "Is that a kinky thing for you two or what? If you're going for interesting foreplay, there are much better ways, you know," she said with a wink.

Mika buried his face in his hands, shaking his head as he groaned aloud. "Why do you do this?"

"I can show you some of the stuff I've written, might give you some ideas for what to do with your prince," Shinoa added with a giggle.

Mika picked up his plate and stood up. "I'm done. I will see you both later," he said, turning around and stalking off, hoping they wouldn't follow him. He had no clue what those two thought, and hearing all of their fantasies about him and Yuu was the last thing he needed to hear. The only thing that could be worse would be if they were to talk to Yuu about this sort of thing. Mika enjoyed dishing out his own pranks and teasing, but that would be a whole other story. That would _mortify_ him.

"Do you have a meeting with your love to get to?" Shinoa called out to him, shaking Mika from his thoughts.

"Be sure to wear condoms!" Mitsuba added, both giggling loudly as Mika dropped off his plate for the cleaning staff.

He could feel his face growing red with embarrassment as he dashed out the dining hall as fast as he could, sure Shinoa and Mitsuba were making more jokes at his expense. The worst part was that it was in public, so all of the people on his side of campus would now think he needed to use condoms for some romance that did not exist. Some days he wished he could annoy Shinoa and Mitsuba like he could Yuu.

 _If they dare mention anything to Yuu, they're dead._

* * *

Wednesday

The start of the day had gone much more swimmingly than Monday had, as rather than working with their partner in class, Yuu's English professor had decided to educate them on the specifics about how she wanted their projects completed and any tips she thought they could use. Yuu had been thrilled to not have to deal with Pretty Eyes – _Mika_ , Yuu reminded himself. He didn't understand why the eyes popped into his head first – though he would have to see the blond boy later that night at the library. He dreaded the encounter, knowing Mika would only make his life more miserable.

Now it was the afternoon, a little after two, and Yuu was working at the office. Usually Yuu enjoyed his Wednesday work days since he was the only student there, but today he had checked the schedule and cried on the inside, seeing that Mitsuba would be working with him today. He supposed she couldn't be as bad as Shinoa with the teasing, but she had to be somewhat of a devil in order to hang around Mika and Shinoa. Her first words to him that day only confirmed what he had guessed.

"So Mika's prince is the one training me today, I see."

Yuu sighed and glanced up from his computer screen at Mitsuba as she stepped into the office with a grin on her face. "I'm no one's prince," Yuu muttered, standing up and offering his chair to her. "Sit here and sign into the office. Then I'll show you the basics of what we do."

Mitsuba sat down and scooted the chair forward, logging in her information. "Oh what a gentleman," she said with a chuckle. "I'll have to tell Shinoa what to expect whenever you begin her training."

Yuu facepalmed, leaning his back against the wall. Why did every word to come out of her mouth have to be at his expense? Did fate hate him so much that it would stick him with such terrible people? "Please don't," he said with a heavy sigh. "I presume Guren gave you a tour of the place, did he not?"

"I did," Guren called from his desk, hard at work typing up a mess of documents.

"And Kimizuki gave me a rundown on what you all do when I interviewed," Mitsuba added. "So I just need you to tell me what to do and how to do it."

 _If Kimizuki told her what all she would be doing, why the hell couldn't_ he _teach her how to do it all?_

"Oh, Kimizuki told me to tell you that he heard about your meeting with Shinoa, so he figured he would leave all of the training up to you in order to teach you some social skills," Mitsuba said with a sly smile. "I'm sure your blond-haired, blue-eyed companion could help you cultivate them."

"Why must you bring him up at every moment?" Yuu muttered, shaking his head as he turned to face Guren. His boss had a large desk that not only housed his chair and computer – along with the millions of items and papers Guren kept scattered – but also two upholstered black chairs to seat anyone with the need to speak with Guren. Yuu snatched one of the black chairs and pulled it to their main desk a good distance from the rolling chair – the more distance the better in Yuu's mind – before gesturing toward it for Mitsuba to sit.

He showed her the basics of what he did – how to make, transfer, and answer phone calls, what sorts of emails they sent out, how to make appointments, etc. Mitsuba quietly listened in and attempted to try each function, succeeding and making Yuu's life less hectic. The more she understood and gained a good grasp, the sooner he could escape playing teacher and avoid her jokes about Mika. Though Yuu knew Guren would snap at him if he left her alone for a minute before she'd had a few weeks of experience, so he told her to remain up front with him, even though he knew it would be at his expense.

"So there you are, any questions?" Yuu asked, using his foot to swivel his chair back and forth.

"Just one," Mitsuba said, resting her elbows on her legs as she leaned forward. "Are you single?"

Yuu blinked, taking a moment to process the question. He did not understand Mitsuba or Shinoa and their obsession with asking random questions, though he could assume this question would be related to Mika somehow, which filled his stomach with dread. "Why do you ask?"

Mitsuba shrugged. "I just thought I had someone in mind for you if you were single."

Yuu sighed and shook his head, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I'm not interested in your friend, Mika, alright? I'm his partner in class and that's all."

"So you have Mika on the brain I see," Mitsuba said with a chuckle.

"You know what, I refuse to discuss this further," Yuu muttered, sighing as he returned his attention to the computer screen. "Do you have any _work-related_ questions?"

Mitsuba pouted. "You're no fun. Are you and Mika having a secret love affair that you don't want us to know about?"

"I thought I said we weren't discussing this further."

Mitsuba shrugged. "It'll only be a matter of time before you two realize you're meant to be and that we're right."

"Keep dreaming."

* * *

Mika knew he liked to be early for their showdown in the laundry room, but he decided he would do the opposite when meeting with Yuu. He knew how serious Yuu took this project, so he wouldn't be too late, but he figured about twenty minutes would be enough to leave Yuu in a distasteful mood without his partner leaving. So once five o'clock hit, Mika left his dorm room, arriving at the library at precisely 5:24 to find Yuu sitting at one of the front tables. A laptop, book, folder, notebook, pens, random papers, and a cup of coffee surrounded Yuu, the boy slumped forward with a bored expression. Yuu sat with an elbow resting along the mess of a table, his chin in his hand as he stared at his laptop.

"Working hard?" Mika asked, pulling out a chair and sitting.

Yuu shot him a look of annoyance, rolling his eyes as he straightened in his seat, taking a sip of coffee. "Yeah, no thanks to you," he muttered grumpily. "Where the hell were you? It's been almost a half hour."

"I took a nap and overslept," Mika said with a shrug, fighting a smile as he watched Yuu's face wrinkle in irritation.

"Whatever, all that matters is that you're here now, I guess," he said, spinning his laptop around to show Mika what he'd done for their presentation, which was a couple of intro slides and pictures. "I just started this about ten minutes ago so it isn't much, but I wanted to start on it regardless if you were here or not."

Mika nodded and leaned back in his seat, noting the strained tone in Yuu's voice. "Someone seems grumpier today than usual," Mika commented.

Yuu pinched the bridge of his nose. "It's your friends; they're driving me up a wall with calling me your prince, which I don't understand why they even started that whole thing," Yuu said, meeting Mika's eyes.

Mika could feel himself flush in embarrassment. His worst nightmare had come true: Shinoa and Mitsuba were not only calling Yuu Mika's prince to him, but they also were telling their exaggerated tales to Yuu…which is exactly what he had feared. He would have to talk to his two trouble-making friends.

Mika groaned, leaning forward to bury his head in his hands. "They've been telling you that, too? They're dead the next time I see them."

Yuu chuckled a little bit, earning a questioning gaze from Mika. Why was Yuu laughing at a time like this? Hadn't he just been annoyed with Shinoa and Mitsuba?

"Sorry to laugh, but it's kind of nice seeing you agitated like this after messing with me about reading the book and being late," Yuu proclaimed, still grinning as if this were the funniest thing he'd heard.

"Oh shut up before I continue with the prince nickname," Mika said with a scowl, hearing his phone vibrate. He took it out of his pocket to see Shinoa had texted him. He ignored the message and tossed his phone into his bag, taking out his supplies for their project.

"Speaking of the prince thing, why do they even call me that in the first place?" Yuu asked, taking a sip of coffee.

Mika decided he would turn the tables on Mitsuba and Shinoa to see if they liked it. After everything those two had put Mika through with his laundry rival, they deserved some payback. "It's because they think you're cute," he replied without skipping a beat. Mika powered on his own laptop.

Yuu blinked, looking stunned. "They think I'm cute? That's why I've been cursed by them?"

Mika chuckled, shrugging. "I suppose you could say that. I think it's the eyes that really get them since they're so vivid and," Mika caught himself wandering off, questioning himself as to where those thoughts were leading to. He cleared his throat and straightened in his seat. "That's what they've said, anyway. We should get to work."

 _What was I thinking? If I tell him anything more about his eyes he might actually believe Shinoa and Mitsuba and think I might be the one behind the prince thing._

Mika focused for once and worked on their project for an hour straight, his phone buzzing every few minutes. He'd gotten irritated after the first few buzzes, but after an hour he couldn't take it anymore. He dropped his book on the table and snatched the phone from his bag, seeing that Shinoa had texted him fourteen times. "Sorry, give me a moment," he said as he scrolled through the texts angrily, looking over what Shinoa had sent.

' _How are things going with your prince?'_

' _Have you guys kissed yet?'_

' _Hmm, it's been twenty minutes since I first messaged you… either you're busy working or you're busy making out ;)'_

' _Make me and Mitsu proud!'_

' _At dinner tomorrow I expect to hear all about your hot date in the library!'_

' _Take pictures! I think you two would look so cute together ;)'_

' _Mika…'_

' _This is only fun if you respond. You know I joke.'_

' _I hope your prince is worth all of your time…make him feel special!'_

' _If you take him back to the dorms for the night, be sure to hang a sock on the door so that we know.'_

' _Take him to dinner first though. That will help put him in the mood and then you can offer to burn calories with him if you know what I mean.'_

' _Remember to wear a condom!'_

' _Do you need me to bring some over?'_

' _I'm a couple chapters into the story between you and Prince Yuichiro, do you want to read it after your date? I think you'd like it ;)"_

"She's insane," Mika said, his face growing red from the text messages, his face horrified. This is the reason why he didn't want to look sooner, but he knew if he didn't respond that the texts would only get worse. "Excuse me a moment," Mika said, receiving another text from Shinoa that moment.

'" _Mika stared into the brilliant green eyes of Prince Yuichiro, the man for which he had fallen for. He could feel his pulse quicken, blood rushing down to his…'_

Mika stopped reading at that moment, barely catching Shinoa's question as to if he enjoyed the small scene she'd sent him. He could feel his face growing red as he made his way to race to the bathroom, only before he made it there, he tripped over the strap of Yuu's bag and found himself crashing into Yuu, knocking the boy out of his chair. Mika landed on top of his prince, their faces mere inches away. Mika hadn't thought his face could grow as hot and red as it was right now, his heart speeding up as he scrambled to his feet, trying to hide his face from Yuu.

"Sorry, are you alright?" he asked, peeking over his shoulder at Yuu.

Yuu stood up and brushed himself off, face wrinkling in confusion at Mika. "I'm fine, but are you okay? You seem to be acting weird."

"Just fine, I'll be back!" Mika called, hurrying off to the bathroom without another word from Yuu.

He scurried into a stall as soon as he stepped into the bathroom, sitting down and burying his face in his hands as he caught his breath. He could feel the heat radiating off his face as Shinoa's words rang into his mind, her voice sing-songing the stupid scene she had sent him. Why was this happening? Why was he letting Shinoa's words get to him? Yuu had pretty eyes; anyone could admit that, but that didn't explain why he _liked_ being so close to Yuu just now.

He needed to relax, to not get so worked up over such a thing. It was one fall and one close encounter; it had been a while since he'd been in a relationship, so it was probably his subconscious recalling how nice being close to someone was, reminding him that he was just lonely, nothing more.

 _Alright, I'm glad to have that settled. Now to focus on what I love most, which is getting a good laugh from Yuu's misery_.

Mika silenced his phone, vowing to check it only after they finished working on their project for the night, and walked back over to the table, pushing all of those thoughts from his mind for now.

 **A/N: Thank you all for patiently waiting for this chapter! I plan to edit this later on, but I do hope you enjoyed this chapter as well. For once there was no clash about laundry, but next chapter will have one as well as more of their saltiness toward each other! A big thank you to Alison wilson 101 for the idea for this last scene here - I promise to expand more on the idea as we continue on ahead. Thank you all for the reviews and the reads and all - I love them and it makes me glad to know you guys are liking the story! I'll try to update as soon as I can, I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!**

 **Alison wilson 101: Again, thank you for your lovely idea and your enthusiasm!**

 **TheCandyChild: I thought that would be a cute little nickname until he discovered Mika's name! Haha that would be a funny plot twist - I like it!**

 **Kuro13Dead: Thank you for your review; I'm glad to hear you're loving it! ~By the way I like your username, Kuro is one of my faves from Haikyuu!~**

 **CrrescentMoonTenshi: Thank you! I hope you liked this chapter as well; thank you for your support!**

 **BitterArchfiend: Yuu training Shinoa will be in the next chapter for sure! I'm really excited to write that scene**

 **SSJ Mirai Gohan: That's a great question! It'll be mentioned later on down the road, but he had a more normal upbringing. Not to say that his upbringing was great, but it does differ from what we see in the anime**

 **Aneki Okumura: I'm so glad to hear that you're enjoying the story! Your reviews killed me! Here's your update, I hope you enjoyed! Next chapter will highlight more of their adversarial relationship!**

 **Renai Yuusha19: Thank you for your review! I really appreciate it; here's your update!**


	6. Progress

Wednesday

Yuu did not know what Mika's friend had texted him, but whatever it had been, it left Mika acting weird for the rest of the night. Yuu half wondered if it had been Shinoa or Mitsuba, driving Mika wild with their wild fantasies, as they usually did. But they couldn't have known about the two working on their project tonight, not unless Mika had told them, but Mika wouldn't have said anything to them. Mika seemed annoyed with their antics, but Yuu still was curious.

He was curious especially because Yuu would catch Mika looking at him as if he were trying to figure something out, but each time Yuu would catch his glance, Mika's face burned red and his eyes averted, some mumbled sentence dropping from his mouth. Yuu had begun to wonder if it had anything to do with how close their faces had been when Mika had accidentally fallen on him… he had felt breathless when he'd seen those gorgeous eyes up close, but he had quickly shaken off those thoughts. It helped that Mika had run off so that Yuu could collect his own thoughts. He swear he could practically hear Mitsuba and Shinoa singing in his mind about how flushed he looked at that moment. He tuned them out by the time Mika had come back.

"Why are you acting so weird?" Yuu asked him at the end of the night, noting how quiet Mika had gone. The two had completed a rough outline of what their paper would contain, as well as a rough presentation for it.

"Maybe this is how I usually act," Mika replied, finishing copying the paper outline into his own notebook. "Are we finished for the night?"

Yuu turned his laptop back around and shut it, shrugging. They had been here for a good couple of hours and had made a good amount of progress, so he supposed he wouldn't mind wrapping things up. "I suppose so. We got a lot done tonight."

Mika quickly stood up, sliding his notebook and pencil into his backpack. "We did, didn't we?" He hadn't even slid the straps over his shoulders by the time he made a hurried exit. "Bye!"

"Mika, wait!" Yuu called out, hurrying to stuff his own supplies into his bag. How fast _was_ that kid? Did he have a hot date to get to? They hadn't even gotten a chance to set up a meeting time. "When do you want to meet up to work on this again?"

Mika paused, tapping a finger along his chin as he thought, finally acting normal. "Why don't we talk about this in class on Friday?"

Yuu stood up and threw away his coffee cup from earlier. Mika puzzled him; one minute he acted panicked and ready to flee, and now he seemed to be back to his usual self. He sighed. Why did he have to get the weird partners? "Yeah, class works."

Mika pursed his lips for a moment as if in deep thought. "Well, maybe not… I may be ditching class that day…"

Yuu's face fell, wrinkling in irritation. "Mika, I swear-"

"Sorry, I can't promise anything! Bye, Yuu!" Mika called out innocently, waving to Yuu as he grinned, dashing off.

Yuu shook his head in exasperation as he made his way to leave as well. "If you don't show up, I _swear_ that I'll hunt down your dorm room and egg it!" Mika didn't respond, so either he hadn't heard Yuu's threat, or he had chosen to ignore it like the bastard he could be. "He's so frustrating!"

" _Shh!_ "

Yuu turned to see the librarian glaring at him, looking as though she might leap over the front desk and knock Yuu to the ground to strangle him. Yuu shot her an apologetic look and a wave goodbye before he dashed off into the night air.

* * *

Friday

Mika had shown up to class that day, sparing Yuu a mental breakdown. They had one more week to write the paper, finish the PowerPoint, and to practice their presentation, as their professor gladly reminded them today. She did not offer them class time to work in their groups, but Yuu figured he could catch Mika after class to talk about plans. Ideally, they could write the paper this weekend and finish the presentation, which would give them the week to make any changes they needed, as well as to actually practice their presentation. The last thing Yuu needed was to be unprepared.

The class disbursed into a rowdy mob of students clamoring to escape, chatter about the weekend and drinking plans all around. Yuu rolled his eyes; he was one of the lamer college students that actually did homework over the weekend and skipped the parties. It wasn't that he hated parties, but parties usually included alcohol and the pressure to drink alcohol; after his last experience with alcohol, Yuu wanted nothing to deal with it.

The sight of bright blond, mussy hair appeared in Yuu's peripherals, Mika appearing in front of him. "So you decided not to ditch, I see," Yuu commented, leading the way out of the classroom.

Mika chuckled. "You believed me, did you?"

Yuu shot him a glare. " _Shut up_. Anyway, we can probably finish our paper up by the end of this weekend, are you able to work on it sometime tomorrow afternoon, like four? Or even tonight I could do."

"I can't tonight, I have plans, but maybe tomorrow…" Yuu caught a gleam in Mika's eyes, a sort of curiosity in them as he asked, "What if we had an earlier start tomorrow… say two?"

Yuu pursed his lips. That was the time he usually had his competition with M… school _was_ more important, Yuu knew that, but it wasn't as if he could explain that fact to the mysterious M. He knew the bastard would right some condescending note for him about how Yuu had chickened out and how inferior he was in comparison to M. Yuu knew he shouldn't let some mystery man dictate his actions, but he _really_ wanted to beat the bastard at least once. "I promised my roommate I'd help him with something around two," Yuu lied, chastising himself for allowing M to control him.

Yuu could tell Mika was trying not to smile, the edges of his lips twitching as if they wanted to curl into a grin. He didn't understand why that would be so he dismissed it as nothing. Mika cleared his throat and shrugged. "Then I can't do anything this weekend."

 _He's trying to trick me again, isn't he?_ Yuu mused, refusing to fall for another of Mika's tricks. He shrugged as well, turning around and making his way back towards the classroom. "I guess we should tell our professor that our group isn't going to work. I'm busy all of this week, so I think going solo might be the best idea. You can keep the outline we made; I'll just write my own paper and make my own presentation. Now we won't have to worry about meeting up at all."

"Yuu, wait!" Mika called out, catching up to Yuu's pace. "I was joking, I can do tomorrow at four. The library right?" Yuu didn't answer, close to the classroom now. Mika stepped in front of him and placed both hands on Yuu's shoulders, his oceanic eyes serious for once. "Yuu-"

Yuu burst into laughter, wiping a tear from his eye as he watched Mika's jaw grow slack as he realized he had fallen for it. He could've let the joke go on for a bit longer, but he was satisfied with the reaction he got. "Gotcha!" He chuckled, turning around back the way they were originally walking. "Tomorrow at four in the library works fine."

Mika clapped for him, shaking his head as he kept pace with Yuu. "Congrats, you got me. What would you have done if I hadn't done anything to stop you?"

"Then we wouldn't be partners, I guess. I hadn't thought about that," Yuu answered honestly. He began walking in the direction of the University Center, where he would grab a quick lunch before work. He waved toward Mika before continuing on his way. "I'll see you tomorrow."

After waiting ten minutes in line for a sandwich, Yuu spent the next twenty minutes eating before he left for work. He would have loved to be able to go back to his dorm room for a nice nap, but he had _stupidly_ chosen to work on a Friday. It was a two hour shift that he was dreading because Shinoa would be there, and he would be expected to train her. The worst part was that Guren wouldn't be there – he was never in on Fridays – so there would be no reason for Shinoa to filter her questions, questions which would of course be about Mika, because what else would there be to talk about?

Shinoa was there to greet him as he walked into the office, a box of chocolate covered strawberries in her hands as she waved to him. "Hello, Prince Yuu," she said with a wink, biting into her own strawberry as she rose out of her seat for Yuu to sign into the system.

Yuu sighed as he sat down and typed in his information. "Please stop calling me that."

Shinoa pulled up a chair next to Yuu and sat in it, setting the box of strawberries down. "Would you prefer Prince Yuu or Mika's Prince?" she asked, waving her half-bitten strawberry in front of him. "It's your pick."

"Why do I have to have either as a nickname?" Yuu questioned, scrolling through the emails as Shinoa finished off her snack. "Just call me Yuu."

"It's just a fun nickname, Yuu; besides, calling you by the same name everyone else calls you isn't any fun, either. Why are you so uptight about it? Can't you indulge mine and Mitsuba's fantasies a little?"

"No."

Shinoa pouted. "We're trying to offer you and Mika the chance to be happy, is that so awful?"

"Yes when we clearly are not gay for each other. I have to work with him on a project; I don't need to hear your voice whirling around my head every time I see him."

Shinoa grinned and raised an eyebrow, leaning closer to Yuu. "My voice whirls around your head when you're with him? Do tell. What am I saying?"

Yuu flushed, thinking about how close Mika's face had been to his the other night, and how pretty Mika's eyes had looked. He cleared his throat and shook his head. "Nothing. It's really only an annoying, nagging voice in my head that I tune out."

Shinoa rolled her eyes. "Sure, little Yuu. Deny your feelings all you want, but I know that one day you both will realize it." Shinoa scooted the box of strawberries toward Yuu then. "Dr. Tepes dropped this off about a half hour ago to thank us for the wonderful work we do. Do professors leave us food often?"

Finally, a change of subject. It seemed hard to believe that Shinoa and Mitsuba could talk about anything other than him and Mika.

Yuu grabbed his own strawberry and tilted his hand side-to-side in answer to her question. "Eh, it more or less depends if they have leftover food from their lunches or classes. Some gift us more than others; Krul doesn't too often unless it's to bribe us to take on a huge project, or to thank us for doing such a huge project."

"Which is it this time?"

Yuu could hear footsteps stomping towards them. He groaned aloud, having expected her to show up; they hadn't had a project from her recently, so it was only a matter of time, Yuu knew. "There's your answer."

Krul stepped inside, her high-heeled boots quieting as she stopped walking, her red eyes falling upon both Yuu and Shinoa. A smile tugged at her lips as she set down a paper in front of Yuu. "I see you've both enjoyed the strawberries. I'm glad. Now I know you may have been hoping for an easy day, but I have a job for you."

"Of course you do," Yuu mumbled, faking a smile so that he wouldn't get in trouble with Guren – the student assistants were supposed to have a positive attitude and comply with each professor's request with zero complaints. Times like these were difficult to not complain while the professor was there. Krul treated them fairly, which was nice, but her jobs were always monotonous or time consuming.

"I wrote down all that I need you to do, but I would like you to type up these exam questions." Krul set down a stack of papers. "I have ten different copies, so you will need to do each one individually. I also need ten copies of each when you finish. After that, I would like you to email me the digital copies of the exams. Then could you place a sign on my door that says my office hours will be cancelled for Monday? I also would like for you to order me the list of items on the back of that note. After that, I would like for you to reorganize my bookshelves by author last name. Guren said you kids don't have much to do on Fridays, so I figured this would be something for you to do." She opened the door and waved. "Have a nice Friday," she said before exiting the room.

Yuu slammed his head on the desk as gently as he could to refrain from injury. He groaned. "Just when I thought I could have an easy Friday…"

"Wow, you weren't kidding when you said she liked to bribe us."

Yuu sat up and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "This isn't even the worst request she's given us. It doesn't even make the top ten worst requests."

Shinoa gave him a questioning look. "What all has she made you done?"

"You don't want to know," Yuu muttered, grabbing the stack of exams to type up. "So sorry we can't chat about Mika today, since that's what you and Mitsuba _love_ to do, but would you like to take half of these to the back room to begin typing them up? I'll order the items she wants and do my own typing up here, and then we can take the bookshelves."

Shinoa pouted. "Mitsu didn't tell me her first day had so much to do. She said she did homework the entire time!"

"And she pestered me," Yuu muttered.

"About Mika, I know. I'll refrain from the teasing for the rest of our shift I promise." Shinoa grabbed the first half of exams. "I'll be in the back."

* * *

Saturday

The rest of his Friday shift had consisted of ordering a list of thirty items for Krul and finishing typing the exams and sending them over email. Yuu had passed on the bookshelf reorganization to Kimizuki - who had complained about how Yuu should have done it and left the exams for Kimizuki to do, Yuu had rolled his eyes - and had spent the rest of his night decompressing with a bit of homework and with playing hours of video games with Yoichi. Yoichi had seemed to be in high spirits, but that was most likely because Yuu hadn't mentioned anything about M that night.

Yuu had been quiet most of Saturday morning as well, waiting in anticipation for the clock to strike 1:45. He hoped his note to M about starting at their designated time had caused the guy to rethink his actions from the day before. Yuu knew better than to ask Yoichi for laundry this time around, though Yuu still threw in some clean laundry to make his basket larger, despite Yoichi's protests. If he was going to beat M, he would do it by filling up the washers. Two could play that game.

"Alright, I'm going!" Yuu called out to Yoichi, grabbing his basket.

"I need to find something else to do around this time so I don't have to bear witness to this," Yoichi commented, waving towards Yuu. "Good luck."

Yuu raced down the stairs to the basement, rushing down the hall. As he entered the door to the laundry room, he didn't hear machines running for once. Yuu's heart lurched in excitement. This was his chance to shine and to rub it in M's face!

He sat his laundry basket down and opened up the first washer to toss his clothes inside, though he stopped. He kicked the washer as he realized clothes were already inside of it. Yuu checked the next washer, and the next one, and the next one, and the next one until he realized that Every. Single. One. Was. Filled. With. Clothing. He could not have been more pissed.

Yuu dug out his post-it notes from his pocket with his pen to write M a nasty note, tempted to toss out M's laundry and to put in his own, but he paused when he heard his phone go off. He dug it out of his pocket and frowned when he saw that it was his mother calling. He was tempted to send the call to voicemail, but it wasn't too often that she called him.

"To what do I owe this _lovely_ call?" Yuu answered, putting the post-it note away.

"Yuichiro, I need you to come home right now," his mother said, urgency in her voice.

Yuu stiffened, ninety-nine percent sure he knew what she was calling about. "Don't tell me Dad went missing again."

Yuu's mother huffed a frustrated breath, her tone angry. "Don't make it sound as if _I_ made him disappear, Yuichiro. He seemed to be doing better lately so I ran to the store and by the time I got back, he had gone for a walk or something. I checked his usual places and nothing. I'm searching the city now."

Yuu's father had been diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's disease seven years ago. At first his father had memory slips here and there, but it progressed over the years. The doctors they had seen had placed his father on drugs, but they could only do so much. Lately, his father had picked up the habit of wandering off on his own. It didn't happen too often, but at least once every couple of months Yuu, his mother, and his younger sister would go off in search of him. Usually he could be found by his favorite park, but apparently not today.

"Where's Serena?" Yuu asked, hesitant. His younger sister was fourteen, but she was sick herself and tended to stay at home resting. If his father had been home at the time, so would have Serena, and Serena wouldn't have known any better; his mother had opted not to tell her of their father's condition so that Serena could focus on her own condition.

"That's also why I called. I think she's with him."

"Oh my god," Yuu breathed, kicking another washer. "You _left_ her with him? Have you even explained his situation to her?"

He could imagine his mother rolling her eyes. " _Yuichiro_ , you know that I am not explaining it to her. Is that clear? Now get your ass down here and search for them!"

"If anything happens to Serena I will never forgive you." He hung up without hearing his mother's reply. He knew she would have yelled at him for taking up such a stern tone, and Yuu wasn't in the mood for a lecture. He quickly grabbed his laundry and hurried out the door and raced up the stairs, forgetting about M for a moment.

* * *

 _I can't believe I left my laundry money upstairs_ , Mika thought with a sigh.

He had been prepared to beat Yuu when he realized he had no way to pay for the washers. He had dashed up the stairs and grabbed his quarters, but by the time he made it back down to the laundry room, he had seen Yuu furiously opening all the washers and had run to the end of the hall and into one of the basement's study rooms. Mika hadn't wanted to give up the rouse yet, so he waited about five minutes.

Yuu had cleared the laundry room by the time Mika walked back inside. He paid for his washers but he felt lost. There was no angry note from Y this time; there was _always_ a note from Y. Y was Yuu right? They shared the same handwriting, so it had to have been the same person. And the name fit, so Mika passed it off as Yuu forgetting to bring his own post-it notes, though it bugged him to see his own note still there; usually Yuu threw them away.

Mika passed it off as nothing until he came back from drying his clothes to see his clothes were the only ones drying; no other washers or dryers were in use, which was odd. And again, there was no note, while Mika's note still remained on top of the washers. Had Yuu been right in saying he'd needed to help his roommate with something? But Mika had seen him in here, so could he have been wrong? Could someone else have been behind Y? Could that someone just happen to have similar handwriting?

Mika planned to ask Yuu when he met up with his partner at the library, but when he arrived – only seven minutes late this time – Yuu was nowhere to be seen. He wondered if Yuu had left because Mika wasn't there, but he knew that wouldn't be it. Mika scoured the library, figuring Yuu may have tried to prank him again in retaliation for his tardiness, but again, there was no Yuu to be found. Mika wished he had asked for Yuu's phone number so that he could text him to see if he still planned to show up.

A sinking feeling hit Mika's stomach; he wondered if something had happened to Yuu. As grumpy as the guy was, he was still reliable, so he wouldn't have skipped out without good reason. Mika hoped that whatever he had promised to help his roommate with was the reason he was taking forever, so Mika decided to stay put at the library and to begin typing up the paper.

Almost two hours later and Yuu finally arrived. The boy looked exhausted; his raven-black hair seemed messier than usual, his usual bright, emerald eyes dulled. Mika could see a small bruise forming under his left eye. He carried his backpack with him, setting it down as he joined Mika at the computer he'd scored, wincing as he did.

"Sorry I'm late," Yuu began, wincing again as he dug out his own notebook and laptop. "Something came up."

Mika frowned, eyes warily watching Yuu. "Is everything alright, Yuu? You look like you have a bruise under your eye."

Yuu touched the bruise for a moment, his eyes darkening. "It's fine, don't worry about it."

"Alright," Mika said. He knew Yuu was clearly _not_ fine, but he also knew that prying into his business would only close him off more. So he would drop the subject for now, but he wondered what sort of business had come up… "I got a jump start on our paper."

"Awesome, thank you," Yuu said, scooting closer to Mika to see.

Mika's breath hitched at the proximity, his heart racing faster. He focused his gaze on the computer in front of him, refusing to allow his thoughts to become something like that of Shinoa's fanfictions. He was straight, he knew this. Everyone knew this. It was just Shinoa and Mitsuba's joking, that's all. That's what he kept telling himself, anyway. "So what do you think of it?"

Yuu nodded. "I like most of it, though there are a few things I'd like to change."

Mika rolled the chair over a bit so that Yuu had a better view. At this angle, Mika caught a glimpse of a birthmark of some sort on Yuu's wrist. It looked like a scar, something Mika couldn't say he noticed before. "Hey, Yuu?"

"Hmm?" Yuu asked, side-glancing at Mika.

Mika wanted to ask Yuu about it – he didn't know why he wanted to know exactly, maybe to get closer to Yuu? They were group partners, and he seemed nice, so of course he wouldn't mind being friends with Yuu. But it was something more than that. Yuu wouldn't speak of what had happened tonight, so maybe asking about the scar would allow Mika some insight, but he feared Yuu would growl some comment about minding his own business, so Mika fumbled for words. "Um, nothing. Nevermind. It's not important."

Yuu shrugged and went back to reading. "Alright."

Mika would ask him about the scar another day, for now, he would focus on their project.

 **A/N: Hey guys, here's the long awaited update for you! I apologize for the delay, but with school starting back up, I've had a crazy semester. I can't promise when the next update will be. Thank you for your patience, your reviews, and all that, and a big thank you to Aneki Okumura for the idea of Yuu telling Mika he would do the project on his own (I shortened what you had to make it work in here) and to SSJ Mirai Gohan for inspiring me to sit down and actually think about what I wanted to do for Yuu's backstory - I hope you like it! I did change Yuu's backstory a bit and gave him a younger sister, which we'll see more of as we go along. Please leave a review to let me know your thoughts and I hope you all enjoyed the chapter!**

 **Lotus Sword - Oh good, I'm glad that you think Shinoa's and Mitsuba's antics are funny! And I know, those boys don't have any choice in the matter. Sorry I decided to switch up the laundry clash a bit; and thank you, I'm glad you liked Mika being friends with Shinoa and Mitsuba (he doesn't have many people to call friends in canon, so I wanted to give him some)**

 **CrescentMoonTenshi - I'm so glad to see you're loving this story! We'll see more flustered Mika as we carry on!**

 **SSJ Mirai Gohan - I really like your idea! I must thank you; as I said, you helped me sit down and think exactly of what I wanted to do with Yuu. I hope you like the direction I'm taking this!**

 **Guest - Thank you for your review!**

 **Kuro13Dead - I hope you liked this chapter! Yes, Haikyuu is amazing; I'm so upset that this season is almost over, though I'm so glad that they got a season 3!**

 **BitterArchfiend - Aww :) Thank you so much for your review; I appreciated it a lot. I hope you enjoyed this chaoter!**

 **Aneki Okumura - Again, thank you for your idea! I will have another similar scene in the future. Yuu will get some revenge on Mika as we go along, I promise!**

 **Wefies - Here's the next chapter!**

 **Alison Wilson - Here's the update finally! I hope you liked it!**

 **chisame75 - Thank you for the review; I'm happy that you're really liking it!**


	7. Questions

Yuu didn't get back to his room that night until nine o'clock, after he and Mika had finished their paper. He had been surprised to see how much of a start Mika had done – he'd written a good two and half pages - and a surprise that the boy had even bothered to wait for Yuu after such a long time. Yuu had debated even showing up, honestly. It had been hours after the original meeting time, so Yuu had been sure that Mika would have gone after the first half hour. The only reason he'd gone to the library was so that he could work on the paper himself as an apology to Mika.

Yuu was also glad that Mika hadn't pressed the issue of his eye any further, that he hadn't demanded some brilliant explanation for where Yuu had been and why he was late. He hadn't wanted to talk about it, and most people didn't seem to understand that, but it meant a lot that Mika seemed to. As much as the boy had annoyed him during their first couple of meetings, Mika did not seem as bad now.

By the end of the night, the two still had to finish their presentation and put it into practice, but Mika agreed to finish it another time, allowing for Yuu to slink back to his dorm, drained and exhausted. The dorm was only a fifteen minute walk, but Yuu had brought his car, and with how exhausted he felt, he was glad he had.

Yuu walked into his dorm room and set his backpack on the chair to his desk, dropping his keys on his desk before he collapsed onto his bed.

"Welcome back," greeted Yoichi, though his greeting was softer than usual tonight.

Yoichi knew why Yuu had left; Yuu had told his roommate the situation. After the phone call with his mother, Yuu had brought up his laundry and shoved it aside as he usually did, and, as usual, Yoichi had guessed it to be because of M. He had looked so surprised to discover that it had been because of family, rather than Yuu's mysteriously rude laundry rival.

Yuu groaned from the sharp pain that radiated from his ribcage as he straightened himself along his bed. He closed his eyes and exhaled, his left eye swollen from the bruise his mother had left him. He touched a hand to it, just as he had when Mika asked about it, and sighed. "Glad to be back." He earnestly meant the statement. To Yuu, these dorms felt more like home than his own house did, even with the disgusting bathrooms, the partiers that stayed out until three in the morning, and even despite the dorm food.

"Are Serena and your dad alright?" Yoichi asked quietly.

Yuu could tell Yoichi was trying to gauge how open to conversation he was regarding the topic. His roommate was used to this; he knew Yuu's family well - their situations, their past, everything. Yoichi was the only one who did that Yuu knew of, and Yuu liked it that way. The more people knew a person, the more they tended to distance themselves; at least, that's what Yuu had discovered over the years.

"Yeah," Yuu answered. "Dad wandered off, Serena followed him unknowingly, and we found them both at Dad's old job." Yuu sighed once more, rubbing the bridge of his nose as he recalled the memory.

Yuu had discovered the two by accident, having made the wrong turn at a light. It had been a coincidence that he had glanced over to the side in time to see security guards marching out his father. Yuu had quickly turned in and pulled up to the two security guards holding tight to his struggling father, Serena behind them with one security guard holding onto her. His father had been squirming around, demanding that he speak to his boss and that they release him before they regret escorting out the greatest advertiser that worked there.

"He forgot he quit the advertising business… they had to escort him and Serena out, that's when I got there."

Yoichi's eyes grew wide. "Did they arrest him?"

Yuu shook his head. "No, thankfully. Do you know how pissed my mom would have been if they had arrested him?" Yuu shivered inwardly; the consequences would not have been pretty, and it would have resulted in more injuries than Yuu already had, that much he knew.

Yoichi waited a moment before saying anything, as if deciding what to ask next. "How _did_ your mom take it, anyway?"

Pain flared from Yuu's eye and his wrist as he thought about the question. He turned on his side, facing away from Yoichi. Even though Yoichi knew about his family, Yuu still hated admitting what had taken place. This was partly because he hated to make Yoichi fret about his injuries, but mostly because of another reason. Speaking about it made Yuu feel weak and vulnerable, something he'd felt his entire life. He felt no need to relive those feelings more than he already had earlier in the day. "She took it about as well as you could guess."

"Yuu, look at me."

Yuu could hear the demanding tone in his roommate's voice; it was not one used often, but Yuu knew that if he failed to comply with Yoichi's request, his roommate would force him to look at him so that he could assess the damages. So Yuu exhaled and hesitantly sat up, wincing as the pain shot from his ribcage again. He could see Yoichi's dark green eyes looking him over as his roommate pulled his chair closer to Yuu. Yoichi's face settled into a deep frown, eyes full of concern.

"Oh Yuu, I wish you would've let me go with you."

Yuu shook his head; he hated to cause Yoichi any emotional distress. His roommate had volunteered to drive home with him, to help search and to help prevent any abuse – his mother could contain her rage while Yoichi was around, barely - but Yuu knew that his presence would only make things worse the next time Yuu saw his mother alone. When his mother had found out that Yoichi knew everything, well, Yuu had found himself nearly hospitalized. "It's not a big deal. Seriously, Yoichi, don't worry about me." Yuu shot him a small smile, waving a hand of dismissal. "There wasn't much you could've done to change things, anyway."

Yoichi's eyes didn't leave his, his gaze unrelenting. "What happened? What did your mom do? You're wincing, Yuu."

Yuu's face dropped, his eyes averting. "The wincing is from when the security guard elbowed me for interfering; I tried to pull them away from Serena and my dad, which was a huge mistake. Man, are they tough. They aren't security guards for nothing." He showed Yoichi his wrist, large pink marks stretching across it over faded scars. "This is from when my mom arrived to the scene. Her grip was tight as she dragged me away to settle the dispute. The eye came once we brought Serena and Dad back home. She said it was for the attitude I'd had with her on the phone."

Yoichi sighed. "I wish you would tell someone about this…"

"You know my mom would kill me if I did say anything." Yuu looked at Yoichi sharply. "Besides, if I told someone and they did something about my mom, I don't know what would happen to Serena." Yuu's voice grew quieter at the statement. "Dad wouldn't be fit to take care of her with his disease, and we aren't real close to any extended family, so she would be taken away. I doubt any court would allow me to take her." Yuu met Yoichi's eyes with a look of determination. "As long as she can take care of Serena, I'll continue to be her punching bag."

"You shouldn't have to be, you know."

Yuu shot him a sad smile. "I know, but I don't mind being abused if it prevents my sister from experiencing it." Yuu had made his choice many years ago, and he would remain like this for years to come.

Yoichi stood up and stepped over to their mini-fridge in the corner of the room. He opened it, noise sounding as he dug out an ice pack. Stepping to the side, Yoichi snatched a washcloth from his closet shelf. He wrapped up the ice pack firmly and handed it to Yuu.

"I'll be fine," Yuu protested.

Yoichi shoved it into his hands. "Ice it or it'll only get worse. Do you want to explain to everyone what happened? You know your boss will ask you, and I remember the lame excuse you offered him last time."

Yuu gave a sheepish laugh; he remembered how Guren had scolded him for getting into a fight, saying that his assistants weren't supposed to get themselves into trouble. Yuu also recalled Guren telling him to leave the trouble behind, or to learn how to cover up the evidence. "Yeah, somehow I doubt this will go away within the next day or so."

* * *

Monday

"What happened to your face?"

Yuu finished signing into work and stood up, gesturing towards the computer. "Would you like to stay up front today or should I?" Yuu asked, choosing to ignore Kimizuki's comment.

"Embarrassed that you got taken down in a fight?"

Yuu rolled his eyes, suddenly grinning in amusement as he turned toward Kimizuki. "I wouldn't talk so big Kimizuki, you looked pretty frightened when you saw that spider on the desk the other day… I think you probably piss yourself and cower in the corner, arachnophob." Yuu pretended to be Kimizuki and cowered in the chair, using his hands to cover his face. "'Oh Yuu, please help me! Save me, I'm scared!'"

Kimizuki grabbed Yuu's hands and pulled them apart from his face, his red-brown eyes narrowing. "I don't sound like that, first of all. Secondly, I would never call you, of all people, for help. And lastly, I seem to recall you running to Guren to ask him to kill the damn thing!"

"In your dreams!" Yuu pulled free of Kimizuki's grip. "I killed that thing myself. I went to grab the paper towels and everything."

Kimizuki raised an eyebrow, a smirk appearing on his lips. "Did you, now? Why didn't you kill it with your bare hands like a real man?"

Yuu remained unfazed. "Why didn't _you_? Oh wait, I forget that you were too much of a baby to do anything about it yourself."

Kimizuki moved closer. "Would you like another black eye?"

"Enough!" The sound of a hand slamming down on the desk earned both Kimizuki's and Yuu's attention. Guren ran a hand through his black hair, shooting an irritated expression in the direction of his workers. "Are you two done measuring up to each other? If you aren't, then you can leave and I'll find two workers to replace you."

Kimizuki side-glanced at Yuu, both seeming to be in agreement for once. "I think we're done here. I'll take the back, since you asked."

"Sure, I don't care," Yuu said with a wave of his hand. "I have to train Shinoa today anyway."

Kimizuki chuckled as he stepped out the door. "I hope she annoys you."

"I hope you trip and fall!" You retorted, earning a round of laughter from Kimizuki that travelled down the hall.

"If a professor complains about the noise level, I'm going to kill both of you," Guren muttered, shaking his head. "Didn't I tell you to cover that up the next time something happened?" Guren gestured towards Yuu's eye.

Yuu spun around in his chair and scoured the emails; he didn't need another reminder about his eye. "It hurts too much to do anything but ice it."

"Stop being a baby about it," Guren said with a sigh. "Do you want to talk about what happened?"

"I don't know what you're talking about. It was another stupid fight, that's all."

Guren's voice softened, losing its usual edge. "Yuu, I know you argue with Kimizuki all the time over the most idiotic things, but I can't see you getting into a fight with someone unless it was for a good reason. We can take the conference room to talk." Guren cleared his throat, his voice returning to its usual tone. "I don't want it to interfere with your work."

Yuu debated taking up the offer. Guren could be a hard ass, but Yuu knew that he did care about his workers and did want the best for them. And he had a feeling that if he did tell Guren about it all that Guren wouldn't tell anyone.

"I appreciate the offer, but not today," he answered, his back still facing Guren.

He did have that trust in Guren, but at the same time there was a part of him that was afraid Guren would listen to his story and pity him, or worse. He feared that Guren would call him weak, tell him that he deserved the black eye and more. It was an irrational fear, he understood that, but he couldn't help it. Not after it had happened before.

"Alright. Just remember that the offer to talk isn't a one-time thing. You can come to me any time."

Yuu smiled a little at that. "Thank you."

The door opened a few seconds later to reveal Shinoa, dressed in a black tank top paired with a light gray cardigan and black leggings. She wore her hair in low pigtails today, white ribbons tying her hair in place of a hairband.

"Good afternoon! Did you boys miss me?" Her flip-flops shuffled along the floor as she approached Yuu. She waved to Guren, a large grin on her face.

Yuu looked over to Guren to see the lines on his face twisting into irritation, his eyes watching Shinoa like a hawk. "I would miss you a little more if you had _actually_ finished the projects Professor Krul had given you on Friday."

Shinoa didn't seem fazed, her amused smile still on her lips. "Oh, Guren, you know I meant to, but being the only worker there at the time, I couldn't. Yuu and Kimizuki had told me that I could leave unfinished projects for the person coming in the next morning-"

Guren's eyes narrowed, his jaw tight. "That's true, but only for people who _stay_ until the end of their shift. You closed the office early without permission. Professor Krul saw you and berated me about how I should be hiring more reliable workers. If you weren't new, you would be fired."

Now Shinoa's composition seemed to break, her smile faltering as she looked more like a kid who had got caught stealing cookies. "I-I'm sorry, sir. But there was a _lot_ of work and-"

Guren shook his head. "Shinoa, I don't want excuses. I know there was a lot of work, but you have a job to do and the expectation here is that you do it. Understood?"

Shinoa sighed. "Yes, sir." She turned to Yuu glumly, her eyes glancing at him in concern. "Yuu, are you alright?"

Yuu waved off her concern, having expected her to have asked some sort of question. Everyone typically did. "Yeah. I'm fine. Here, sign in." He moved so she could sit down at the computer.

She didn't seem to believe him, her eyes watching him carefully as he snatched one of Guren's desk chairs and pulled it next to their work computer. "Yuu, what happened to your eye?"

"Don't worry about it. It's not a big deal." He sat down and gestured towards the computer. "Sign in so we can get to work."

Shinoa sat down and clocked into work, giving Yuu a side-glance every few seconds. "It's not a big deal? Yuu, you have a _black_ eye. That doesn't just happen."

He crossed his arms, his voice coming off colder than he had intended. "I don't want to talk about it."

Shinoa sighed. "Alright…"

* * *

' _You're grabbing dinner with me and Mitsu, right? There's something I want to ask you about.'_

Getting a text from Shinoa was a common occurrence for Mika, so it was no surprise that she had messaged him the moment she had finished up from work. What did surprise Mika was that Shinoa hadn't mentioned a thing about Yuu, like she always did any other time she had gotten done working a shift with him. It was concerning, actually, which meant that he was in for a serious dinner.

He had been the first to arrive at the dining hall, grabbing himself a plate of whatever food looked the least sketchy, which wasn't much, unfortunately.

It didn't take long until Shinoa and Mitsuba appeared at the table he claimed, both of them setting their plates and drinks on the table as they slid into their seats. They had greeted him with a smile and a standard "hello", both digging into the special of the day – which was a bunch of meat chunks thrown together with some sauce that had made Mika want to gag from the smell alone.

"Shinoa, what did you want to talk about?" Mika asked, grabbing his apple – one of the safer options he had found – and biting into it.

Shinoa swallowed down her food and picked at it as she asked, "Do you know what happened to Yuu?'

"What are you talking about?" Mitsuba asked, frowning as she glanced between Mika and Shinoa.

"You haven't gotten to work with him yet this week so you wouldn't know, but he got a black eye… and he _really_ didn't want to talk about it when I asked. I noticed him wincing, too, when we were shelving books, but he played it off as my imagination."

Hearing this made Mika frown. He bit into his apple, growing more concerned for Yuu. Sure, Yuu could be grumpy when it came to Mika playing jokes on him, but Mika had never seen him act like this. Not that Mika knew him well enough to know how he typically acted, of course, but he still felt that something was seriously wrong with Yuu, and it pained him to not be able to help him.

 _I wish he would have told me more about what happened on Saturday…_

But Mika knew that if he had chosen to press the issue, it would have pushed Yuu away from ever talking to him.

Shinoa took another bite of food, swallowing. "If I had thought he got irritated over being called Mika's Prince, this tops that." Her eyes met Mika's. "I was hoping you would know."

"Why would I know?" He raised an eyebrow, breaking from his thoughts. "Because you assume we're in love with each other or something?"

Shinoa shrugged. "No, but you don't ever tease him like we do. You seem like you would be closer to him than I am, considering you've been working on that school project together."

Mika shook his head, leaning back in his seat. "No. I did see the black eye, too, on Saturday, but when I asked about it I could tell he didn't want to talk about it. I even tried to ask him about it again today, but he shrugged it off." He sighed, thinking about it.

Mika had walked into the classroom a few minutes before class began, as per usual. He didn't have a habit of being late unless it was to piss someone off. His desk was in the same row as Yuu's, so on his way to his seat, he had stopped in front of Yuu, noticing how gruesome the bruise had become.

Yuu had been looking at his phone, scrolling along, though it seemed out of habit rather than interest. He had seemed to barely notice Mika; his eyes had flickered to him quickly before going back to his phone. "Hey," he had said, a little less enthusiastic than usual.

"Are you alright?" Mika had asked, hesitant to ask the question. He didn't want to upset Yuu with something he was bound to hear a million times. "Your eye looks like it hurts a lot…"

"Yeah, just fine." He glanced up from his phone, his expression still neutral. "It only hurts if I touch it. Or if I squint my eyes." His eyes returned to his phone. "Looks like class is about to start."

Mika had only sighed, realizing that short answers were all he was going to get, so he switched the subject to figure out a meeting time to finish their presentation.

 _Maybe I should ask him again tomorrow night. I know I shouldn't bother him, but if everyone is taking notice, then something must be wrong. He seems more distant… I need to fix that._

Shinoa broke Mika of his thoughts again. "Alright, if you don't know then that's all I have. Mitsu could you try talking to him Wednesday, maybe?"

Before Mitsuba could answer, Mika chimed in. "I don't think he wants to be pestered by the same question over and over again. I'm sure if it's something he wants to discuss, he will."

He hadn't meant to say anything, but part of him suddenly felt protective of Yuu, though Mika couldn't say why. And another part of him didn't want Yuu to confess his problems to Mitsuba. He wanted to hear what Yuu had to say, and the thought of Yuu speaking to anyone else about things had made him…what was the word… jealous? No, not jealous. He couldn't be jealous. There was no reason to be jealous.

Mika was starting to confuse himself with these thoughts, so he shook it off and paid attention to whatever new topic Shinoa and Mitsuba were suddenly talking about.

* * *

Tuesday – The Next Day

Classes and work had passed by in a blur for Yuu. Today was the one day he did not work with Shinoa or Mitsuba, so he had finally gotten a day to breathe between the prince jokes and being asked if he was alright or what had happened to his face.

He was used to the questions, though, considering it was something he'd dealt with for years now. Though despite being used to the questions, it didn't make them any less annoying, nor did Yuu ever have some great excuse to answer them with. He had learned that a simple cold shoulder and a few short answers tended to shut down the questions quickly, as it had every time Mika and Shinoa had asked him about it.

Yoichi was the only person he had come across that it failed to work against. The first time he had shrugged off his best friend's questions, it had worked. But after that first time, Yoichi had pressed him. It had been a gentle press with a few probing questions here and there, but he continued asking enough questions until he had figured it out himself and confronted Yuu about it. After that, Yuu couldn't shake Yoichi off, and he hadn't wanted to. He had always wanted to let someone know about everything.

But he only needed one person to know; one person was enough. That was why he had been so quick to shut down Shinoa and Mika's questions; neither of them needed to be involved, especially not Mika. With his worried looks and questions, Yuu could tell that Mika did care about him a little, but even so, Yuu couldn't talk to him. He couldn't talk to anyone. Not Guren, not Mika.

So if Mika brought anything up again tonight, Yuu knew he would probably have to say a few things to him that he would regret later. It was what he had always done to people who had tried to get close to him, and even though it sucked to lose a good friend, it had always been necessary.

For some reason, the thought of losing Mika pained Yuu more than usual. It was a heart-gripping pain that felt like a physical ache and only confused Yuu. He didn't know Mika well, so there was no reason for it… and yet it still remained, still hurt. It didn't matter how many times he told himself it would be for the best or how many times he reminded himself of all the times Mika had annoyed him, the ache stayed the same.

It had even begun to worsen a little as Yuu thought about the way Mika's smile brought a light to his eyes, like a bonfire lighting up the night. It was the kind of smile that was contagious, like a drug that Yuu couldn't get enough of. And his eyes… imagining seeing the sadness his words would bring those eyes hurt the most.

 _Maybe I should just tell him…_

Yuu slapped his cheeks, trying to knock some sense into himself. He couldn't tell Mika anything, he had to remember that. The second he did tell Mika something, he would probably make fun of him or turn it into some sort of joke.

 _But he doesn't seem like he would do that. Not if I was being serious._

"Why is this so difficult?" Yuu shouted, conflicted as he slammed his head down against his pillow.

He was fortunate that Yoichi had decided to grab dinner alone tonight; he could yell out his problems to the air without looking psychotic.

He blew out a frustrated breath and sat up, running a hand through his hair as he checked the time. He had promised he'd meet up with Mika at the library again, and he wanted to make sure he was there on time to make up for his extreme tardiness on Saturday. After all the times Mika had arrived late, Yuu knew he didn't need to make up for anything, but he didn't care.

He made sure he had everything he needed, refusing to think about any of his earlier thoughts. His ribs still hurt a little, a reflective hiss of pain sounding from his mouth as he picked up his backpack, though the pain was much better than it had been days ago.

Deciding to drive, Yuu had arrived to the library ten minutes early, which was fine by him. He walked inside, ready to snag a table when he noticed a familiar mop of blonde hair.

"Am I imagining this or are you actually early for once?" Yuu asked, sliding into the chair across from Mika, who had a pencil in his mouth as he furiously typed away on one of the school's laptops.

The typing came to a sudden halt, a faint smile on Mika's lips as he focused his sapphire orbs on Yuu. "Ha ha, very funny," he said, his voice a little muffled by the pencil. His hand claimed the pencil a second later. "I can be early. It's just fun to be late."

"Yeah, I can tell." Yuu gestured toward the laptop as he began to take out his own computer. "What are you working on?"

"Nothing, really. Another paper for another class, you know how that goes."

Yuu nodded, taking out his notebook and pen. "Unfortunately, I do. It doesn't ever seem to cease sucking."

Mika nodded and brought his arms up into a stretch. "You seem to be in a better mood today."

Yuu looked up from turning on his laptop. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Mika looked almost hesitant to answer. "I mean that you've seemed… distant lately. Ever since Saturday I haven't seen you smile. You've seemed like you have a lot on your mind. Even Shinoa noticed it at work yesterday."

 _Damn it._

This was the territory Yuu had been hoping to avoid. He had expected another question about his eye – you know, if it was alright, if everything was okay, etc. – but Yuu hadn't expected Mika to have noticed any changes about him…. changes that Yuu hadn't even noticed within himself. Had he really not smiled much? And how closely had Mika been watching him to notice and remember that?

"I'm fine," he replied, his voice growing colder. He had been surprised by Mika's statement, but he had to remember what he had to do. He had to throw Mika off, so Yuu shifted his look back to his laptop. It would be easier if he didn't have to meet those sapphire eyes.

"Yuu, you're not fine." Mika's voice was soft and gentle, but honest. "I told you, you've seemed distant and distracted. You say that you're fine, but every time I look into your eyes, I can see the sadness in them."

Yuu's hands tightened, his gaze trained on his laptop. Had Mika really noticed all of that? Could Mika really see right through him? Yuu opened his mouth to tell him that it was none of his business, that he shouldn't care about him, but instead he said, "I have some personal crap that I'm dealing with."

 _Damn it!_

He hadn't meant to say anything that could clue Mika into what had actually happened to him. It had been statements like that that had led Yoichi to guess the situation, and with how perceptive Mika seemed to be, he didn't need Mika guessing either.

"Personal things that involve your black eye?"

Yuu wanted to tell him to shut up, to stop probing for answers, but he couldn't. Something inside of him wouldn't allow him to say it. "Yeah…"

Something warm grabbed Yuu's hand. He looked up, blinking as he realized it was Mika's hand, wrapping around his own. He finally met Mika's eyes, his beautiful, oceanic eyes burning with concern and seriousness. Yuu could feel his heart lurch at the sight, his heart swelling at the intensity in them.

"Yuu, you can talk to me about anything," Mika spoke, his voice as soft and firm as his gaze. "I promise that I'm a good listener and that I won't make any jokes or wave it off. I swear."

Yuu couldn't tear his eyes away from Mika's gaze, even though he knew his eyes must have shown how vulnerable he felt, he couldn't look away. He swallowed hard, touched by Mika's offer. It surprised him to see how serious Mika was, but it was also a comfort. It was a comfort against his fears, the fears he always had about telling someone. Despite the comfort his words brought, fear still remained deep inside Yuu. Fear that Mika wouldn't want to get involved with someone like Yuu. Fear that he would be called damaged goods and tossed aside like garbage.

"We don't have to talk right now, or even today," Mika added, his voice still soft. "But we can talk whenever you're ready."

"I, uh, th-thank you," Yuu finally said, his own voice soft and low. He could feel a small lump forming in his throat that he swallowed down, fighting off the tears forming in his eyes. "I appreciate it."

Mika's face twisted into a grin, one of those contagious grins that made Yuu's face brighten. "Of course. And the offer to talk extends to any time and any place. So if it's two a.m. and you want to talk, I'll be there. I promise."

 **A/N: Hey guys! I meant to update this a lot sooner, but between school and another writing project I was doing, I never got the chance to. So to make up for it, this is a longer chapter that I really do hope you guys like! I really wanted to show a progression in the boys' relationship, so I hope I handled that pretty well. As always, please drop a review of your thoughts! Thank you for those of you who did leave reviews - those are always motivating!**

 **TheCandyChild - You were close, but wrong parent! And you'll find out more about the scar a little later on! I hope the description helped you remember again haha!**

 **SSJ Mirai Gohan - Here's some more on Yuu's background! I hope it's still interesting! And I'm glad you enjoy the interactions, I'm always nervous that I'm not portraying them well haha**

 **BitterArchfiend - Thank you so much! I do plan on doing just that, as you can see in this chapter! And I did take your advice haha; school was so crazy this semester that my entire time was spent on that and work. I hope you've had awesome days as well!**

 **PetTheKitten - I'm glad you enjoy it! It's a late update, but still an update xD**

 **Flash Beat - Your comment made me laugh! I'm glad you enjoyed the story so much, thank you!**

 **CrescentMoonTenshi - I hope you also liked hearing more of Yuu's background in this chapter as well! I know, I didn't want him to back off, but hey, he didn't in this chapter! And I think I'm definitely going to involve Krul a lot more haha**

 **jaredhal0 - Thank you; I'm really glad to hear!**

 **koichii - Welcome to the fandom! And to MikaYuu hell haha! Aww, thank you for reading!**

 **Sparklestar2002 - I did do a slight edit of all the chapters (I've been meaning to for a while) so hopefully the errors have been fixed! But thank you for the review!**


	8. I Think I'm Falling For You

"You're back late."

As Yuu stepped into his dorm room and shut the door, he whirled around to find Yoichi at his desk. He leaned over the desk, dressed in light blue and white striped sweats and a t-shirt with a Hollywood Undead album cover on it. His chin rested in his hand as he flipped the page of the textbook he read. His eyes glanced over to Yuu, the lamp at his desk casting shadows on his face.

"It's only a little after nine," he replied as he crossed the room, dropping his keys at his desk. "We had to finish our presentation and practice it. It took a little longer than I thought." He set down his bag next to his chair and hopped onto his bed with a heavy sigh.

He felt torn, conflicted about trusting Mika with one of the secrets he held so close to him. He'd only known Mika for a couple of weeks, so it would be stupid to trust him without even knowing much about Mika himself, he knew that, but despite only knowing each other for a short amount of time, there was something about Mika that made Yuu feel like he could trust him. It was a secure feeling that he hadn't felt in a long time, like he could hold onto Mika no matter how tight and he could count on him to be there.

It was that same feeling about Mika, though, that terrified him more than ever. As much of a pain as Mika had been in the beginning of first meeting, Yuu did enjoy spending time with him. Mika made him laugh, made him smile even when he didn't want to. He didn't want to lose Mika because of his past. He didn't think he could handle Mika turning his back on him, calling him damaged and never speaking to him again. The thought made his heart ache as much as it had earlier at the thought of losing Mika, of losing some semblance of security.

"What are you thinking about?" Yoichi asked, breaking Yuu from his thoughts.

He looked up to see his roommate flipping his chair around to face Yuu. "You have your thinking face on." He waved his hands towards himself. "Talk to me."

Yuu rested his head against the wall, grabbing a pillow and hugging it to his chest before explaining to Yoichi about his conversation with Mika, explaining his thoughts on trusting him, though leaving out the part about Mika being able to make him smile and such; Yoichi didn't need to know that part. As usual, Yoichi listened without interrupting, despite how much Yuu babbled on about it all. "So I'm not sure what I want to do."

Yoichi stayed quiet for a moment, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms. His lips were pursed and his face was scrunched up in his usual thinking expression. "Yuu, are you falling for Mika?" Yoichi asked suddenly.

Yuu's heart sped up at the question, though Yuu dismissed it as nothing. He gave a little laugh, assuming his roommate was joking until he realized how serious his eyes were. "What? You're being serious? Of course not."

Yoichi gave a light shrug of his shoulder. "You've been talking about him a lot lately, and not because he played a trick on you or something. You've been talking about what a great partner he's become, about what a good person you think he is, things that remind you of him, etc. And you're considering telling him about your family. Do you know how long it took you to tell me about it?"

Yuu looked down at his hands to think as Yoichi continued.

"It took you a year because I kept pestering you, and yet it's taking you a couple of weeks to think about it with him."

He bit his lip, knowing this was true. He hadn't thought about it in comparison to Yoichi, nor how upset Yoichi must be feeling now because of the difference. "I'm sorry… I never thought about it like that."

He caught sight of Yoichi's smile in the lamp light. "I'm not upset, Yuu. I'm only pointing out that for there to be such a difference, you have to have such strong feelings and trust in him. He's your weakness in that chunk of armor you wear for the world, and honestly, it's nice to see someone is able to see though to the real you. You deserve it."

Did he really talk about Mika like that? Had it occurred so often that Yoichi had noticed? Was he really falling for Mika? If he were falling for him, wouldn't he know?

But now that Yoichi mentioned it, Yuu did realize that he talked about Mika every day, whether it was because he'd had class with him, or he was supposed to meet up with him, or, as Yoichi had said, something reminded him of the other. Typically the color blue always reminded Yuu of Mika's beautiful eyes, those very same eyes that he could gaze into forever and remain content.

Yuu blushed at the thought, his heart lurching in his chest at the thought of those eyes that had captivated him from the very moment the two had met. It was those cerulean orbs that had made him want to drop his walls down earlier, that made him want to trust Mika. And it was those very same eyes that he realized he was falling for now.

"So what do I do if you're right?" Yuu asked, his voice soft. He was a little embarrassed, admittedly, to speak to Yoichi about this. Mika was a _guy_ , and Yuu had never thought much about dating a girl, let alone a guy.

Yoichi gave another shrug at that. "That's up to you. I know you're afraid of losing him, but if you really want to talk to him about it, I say go for it." He gave a small smile. "I haven't seen you like this about anyone in a long time, so I don't want to see you lose that because you're too afraid to speak to him."

Yuu kept his gaze on his hands, twiddling his thumbs around. "What I tell him about everything and he can't handle it?"

"I don't know Mika to really say anything about him, but if he's willing to talk to you at two in the morning, I think he'll listen and stick around. But, ultimately it's your choice, Yuu. Pick what's best for you. You know I'll support you no matter what."

Yuu gave him a soft smile, finally able to look at him. "Thanks Yoichi. I think I'm going to sleep on it and see."

* * *

In class the next day, Yuu found it hard to focus on lecture. He usually found it hard to focus because lecture was boring, but today he was distracted for a different reason.

Hunched over his desk with his chin resting in his hand, Yuu found his gaze straying away from the whiteboard and his professor to Mika. Mika was sitting up straight, his eyes glancing back and forth from his notebook to the board as he diligently wrote down notes, something Yuu was neglecting to do today. He kept his hair in its usual, messy fashion, with his bangs falling astray on his forehead, wisps of blonde hair falling down his face in choppy angles, framing his face beautifully. Today he wore a white t-shirt with the logo of some band Yuu had never heard of, paired with black jeans and white sneakers, all of which only made him more attractive to Yuu.

Yuu suddenly blushed a little at this thoughts and brought his gaze back to his notebook, the page in front of him blank where there should have scribbles.

 _I'm thinking of how cute Mika looks instead of paying attention to the class… Yoichi is right._

Not that he hadn't known Yoichi was right before, but now that he was catching himself in the act, it actually felt real. He took a deep breath to calm himself down; he needed to focus on the lecture before anyone else noticed him casting glances over at Mika. He especially didn't want Mika catching him in the act; that would be disastrous trying to dig himself out of that hole.

Yuu sat up straighter and aimed his gaze forward to at least catch the latter half of the lecture. He tried to keep his mind off Mika, though he would allow himself to cast side-glances over at him throughout the rest of the class.

Once class finished, Yuu caught sight of Mika clearing up his things before walking in his direction. Yuu's eyes widened; his heart pounding in his chest at the thought of talking to Mika now that he realized how he felt about the blonde. He knew that if he spoke to Mika now, he would act like a nervous wreck, so Yuu swept his notebook and pencil into his backpack in one fell swoop and threw the bag over his shoulder before standing up to hurry out of the classroom.

Mika caught up to him before Yuu could escape, however, stopping next to him with a smile on his face. "Yuu, hey, how are you today?"

Yuu turned to face Mika, his cheeks tinting pink as he did. His heart leaped at the sight of the bright smile and the light in his eyes. "Oh, uh, hi Mika," he said, giving a shaky smile, already knowing he was sounding stupid. "You know, I'm doing fine. Yeah, how are you?"

 _Idiot, idiot, idiot._

Mika seemed relieved by his answer, motioning for Yuu to walk out with him. "I'm glad you seem to be doing a little better. I'm good, too. I also wanted to ask you, did you want to go over the presentation once more before Friday or do you think we're fine as is?"

The thought of hanging out with Mika alone again made his heart beat faster, his cheeks growing a deep shade of pink as he thought about last night and how close the two had been to each other. Mika had even _held his hand_. It had been an innocent gesture in the moment, but the thought still sent heat to Yuu's cheeks.

At that last thought, Yuu moved to follow Mika and smacked into one of the desks. He hissed in pain as his foot then tripped over one of the legs, sending him into Mika, knocking Mika backwards into the wall, Yuu holding onto his shirt and falling on him. Yuu swallowed hard and looked up to see his face inches away from Mika, his hands on his chest.

His eyes widened as he stumbled backwards, tripping into the same desk, about to topple backwards when Mika grabbed his arms to pull him forward.

"Yuu, are you alright?" Mika asked, his eyes searching Yuu for any injuries.

Yuu could hardly breathe, his pulse racing at how close the two were standing and at the thought of Mika still holding onto his arms. He must have looked like a clumsy fool, which was definitely _not_ an image that he wanted to leave in Mika's mind.

 _Idiot! Ahh, I'm such an idiot. He's never going to like someone who pushes him into the wall. Idiot, idiot, idiot!_

Yuu tightened his hold on his backpack and gave a nervous laugh, making his way towards the door, making sure he didn't run into any more desks as he did. "I-I'm fine, yeah. I'm, uh, I'm sorry for falling! I didn't mean to push you into the wall, and yeah, so um, I think we're fine for the project and I'll see you Friday!" He gave a quick wave before dashing off to work, chastising himself all the way there.

* * *

Friday – Presentation Day

Today was the day he and Yuu had been working so hard for, and Mika still couldn't decide how he felt about today. On one hand, he was glad not to have the stress of this project weighing on him anymore. On the other hand, he realized that it would no longer give him an excuse to see Yuu, other than when he bested him for laundry, that is. But even so, it wasn't as if they saw each other in person at that time.

Speaking of Yuu, Mika was still worried about him. He hadn't heard from him since their class on Wednesday when he had acted strangely. He could tell there was something off when Yuu had been scrambling to clear up his things from his desk, though he had seemed mostly fine when he'd said he'd been doing better.

Mika figured, soon, that Yuu had been nervous about something as he had crashed into the desks, though he couldn't figure out why he'd been so nervous, or why he'd been blushing the entire time. Truthfully, he'd been nervous when Yuu had accidentally sent them both flying into the wall, a small blush having painted his cheeks as he had realized how close their faces were. But fortunately for Mika, he'd been too concerned for Yuu to think more about what had happened if Yuu had fallen on him and their lips had met…

He shook his head, blushing furiously as he stepped into the building.

Shinoa's fanfictions are the reason for that thought. Nothing else, he decided as he stepped into the classroom. He could see that the desks were arranged into groups already, Yuu sitting down next to an empty desk that Mika assumed would be his.

Mika joined him, setting his stuff down and taking a seat as he looked up at the board. Their professor had predetermined their order of presentations, it seemed. "So, looks like we're fifth to go," Mika said, turning to Yuu.

Fortunately the raven haired boy seemed to be better today, as he offered a nod and a, "Yeah, I guess so. We'll do fine though, I'm sure."

Mika opened his mouth to say something more when the professor called the class's attention to explain how the class was going to run and whatnot. It was boring, but it was necessary to know, so he tried his best to pay attention until she announced that presentations were to begin.

Mika paid as much attention to each group as he needed to until the fourth group went up to present. It was about halfway through the presentation when Mika saw Yuu get up and quietly sneak out of the room, phone in hand as he did.

He couldn't pay attention after that, his mind focused on Yuu. It could have been anything from Yuu was making a call to order a pizza or to double check with his roommate about something, but Mika had a bad feeling that it was something more than that. He had a bad feeling that it had to do with the personal stuff Yuu had mentioned the other night, and that bad feeling only worsened when the fourth group finished presenting.

"Mikaela, where is your partner?" the professor asked as Mika stood up alone and stepped over to her computer to bring up their PowerPoint.

Yuu, why aren't you back yet? Should I go find him? No, I'll give him another couple of minutes.

Mika kept his cool, sitting down in her desk chair to pull up his email, and as he opened his mouth to answer, Yuu happened to walk in.

The moment Yuu stepped back into his classroom, Mika could see his wide eyes and his shaking hands, as if he were panicking about something. His phone was in his hands, his grip white-knuckling it.

"Yuichiro, were you planning on missing your presentation?"

Yuu ignored the professor, quickly walking over to his and Mika's desks. Mika knew he had to get to Yuu to see what was up, so he stepped over there as quickly as he could, reaching Yuu as the other boy dug through his backpack for something. Mika grabbed Yuu's arm once he fished out a set of keys, his eyes filling with concern as he looked at his partner.

"Yuu, what's wrong?"

Yuu blinked, his eyes meeting Mika's. They seemed scared and glassy with tears, his voice shaky as he said, "I-I just need to go. I need to get home. I-I'm sorry." He pulled out of Mika's grasp and ran out of the classroom, abandoning everything but the keys and cell phone in his hands.

Mika grabbed both their bags before dashing out of the classroom, ignoring their professor's protest and threat to fail them both on the project. Right now, Yuu was more important than his grades.

He turned his head to see Yuu dashing out of the building, so Mika hurried after him, spotting the direction he was going in; he was heading to the dorms, which is where Mika assumed his car would be.

"Yuu! Stop!" Mika yelled after him, hoping to draw his attention, or to at least slow him down so that he could catch up to him.

Yuu did stop, fortunately, his wide eyes turning to him in surprise. "M-Mika? Why are you following me? I-I can't go back in there."

Mika breathed in relief as he jogged up to Yuu, sucking in a breath to answer, "I'm not dragging you back to class, idiot." He handed him his backpack, Yuu looking at it as though it were a foreign object. "I thought you might want that before it gets thrown into the lost and found."

"You stopped me to give me back my backpack?" Yuu sounded confused.

Mika shook his head, meeting Yuu's eyes. "No. You said you needed to go home, right? And you left with only your keys and phone, so I assume you have a vehicle, right?" Yuu nodded. "You are in no condition to drive, so please, let me take you to where you need to go."

And please, tell me what's going on before my head explodes from all of this worrying.

Yuu shook his head, his eyes gazing down to his phone. "I can't ask you to do that."

"I'm offering to do so, Yuu. Take it, because I won't be able to live with myself if I heard that you got into an accident because I let you drive in the state that you're in."

Yuu wanted to argue more, but he took one look at his phone and sighed. "Fine…" He handed Mika the car keys. "Here."

Mika waved a dismissive hand, taking out his own keys from his pocket and jabbing his thumb at the parking lot next to the building. "I have my own. Come on, let's take my car; it's in the lot."

 **A/N: Finally an update that didn't take me a few months to write! But anyway, I hope that you all enjoyed this chapter; I'm hoping that I'm still progressing their relationship at a good rate! I also wanted to say that I have no plans to abandon this fic because I really enjoy writing it; my last semester was crazy busy with my research class that took almost every once of my free time... it was miserable! But this semester should be better so I'm hoping to update monthly or every two months, though the next chapter is going to be one of my favorites so I might have that one up before I return to school in a couple of weeks! Anyways, thank you for reading and leaving reviews! Feel free to drop a review of your thoughts!**

 **TheCanyChild - Your reviews always make me laugh and smile, I love them! But yes, the ship is sailing! And I'm glad that you're liking Mitsuba's character!**

 **Aneki Okumura - Lol aww! That makes me so happy to hear you were going to reread it and lol I love that you danced at work xD That means so much hearing that and that this is your favorite! ^.^ And as I said, I could never abandon my boys! And I'm going to work hard to update it within the next week or two! Ooh, I like the idea! I might have to keep that in mind, if you don't mind!**

 **Sparklestar2002 - Thank you! I'm glad you liked the progress; that's what I'm most nervous about keeping the pacing for!**

 **BitterArchfiend - Thank you! I do not have the story planned out too much, and I _really_ like that idea! I'm going to have to write it down and keep it in mind as I go along, thank you!**

 **xXkiraXo - Aww, thank you so much! I'm glad to hear that I'm doing well with it all! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!**

 **NotinREALITY - Thank you! I hope you like the progression in this chapter!**


	9. The Truth

Yuu easily complied with Mika's request to drive his own car. He stayed silent as they walked to the parking lot and as they got inside the car, keeping his eyes glued to his phone, occasionally messaging someone on it and dropping it in his lap. Mika could only wonder what sort of circumstances had changed Yuu's demeanor, but he had a feeling it had to deal with some of the personal issues that the ravenette had mentioned the other night.

 _I wish he would tell me what's going on so I wouldn't have to worry so much about him._

The only time Yuu spoke was after he buckled himself into his seat, mumbling for Mika to follow the main road out of town. He gave a weak, half-hearted gesture as to which way to go before sitting back in the seat. He softly sighed, his emerald eyes either gazing out the window or checking his phone.

Mika followed the instructions out, pursing his lips as he side glanced at his passenger, noting how tired and worried Yuu's eyes appeared in the window's reflection. He was tempted to ask Yuu where they were going and what had happened, but he had a feeling that his partner wouldn't answer. And if Yuu really didn't want to talk about things yet, then Mika wouldn't push him.

So, until Yuu was ready to talk, Mika turned up the volume of the radio and drove. His cerulean orbs tried their best to focus solely on the road, but the blond couldn't help but cast concerned side-glances at the other. Yuu didn't seem to notice this, though, too lost in his thoughts.

When Yuu finally did speak, it was only to tell Mika which lane to move into, where to turn, and, finally, where to park, once a large, ten story building came into view. Long structures were attached to the building, and Mika could see a large, fenced off park area filled with people of all ages, some playing on park equipment, some admiring the flowers along the perimeter of the fence, and others strolling through in a wheelchair. Mika didn't have to wait for the sign to know that their destination was the hospital.

Mika pulled into a hospital parking lot, his eyebrows furrowed as he peered over at the ever silent Yuu. If someone Yuu was close to had been hospitalized, it explained the change in him.

Mika was quick to find a spot, and before he even shut off the car, Yuu had already unbuckled and was opening the car door.

"Wait for me, Yuu," Mika said, shutting off the engine.

Yuu shook his head. "No, Mika, stay here." His voice was sharp and firm, giving Mika the feeling that this was nonnegotiable.

Mika unbuckled himself before turning his head toward Yuu, who stood against the car door, ready to close it. "Are you sure? I don't mind going with you."

"No, it'll be better if you wait out here." His voice grew softer, his face somber as he shut the door and made his way into the hospital.

Mika sighed and sat back in his seat, wishing Yuu would have let him tag along. If he hadn't been so worried he'd push Yuu away, he would have stubbornly emerged from the car and followed him inside. But, if Yuu wanted privacy, then Mika would give it to him.

In the meantime, Mika pulled out his phone to play a game to pass the time. After about an hour passed without any sign of Yuu, Mika pocketed his phone, trying to conserve what little of his battery he had left. He eyed the hospital doors, debating if he should go in and check on Yuu or not. He decided against it, not wanting to risk Yuu getting upset with him.

He drummed his fingers along the steering wheel, feeling bored. If he'd had known he'd be sitting in a car for a long time, he would've brought a book or homework. He debated going into the hospital gift shop to buy a book or magazine, but decided not to in the event that Yuu came back soon.

Another hour passed and Mika felt bored out of his mind. He'd turned on the car radio to listen to music for a while, but he didn't want to use up Yuu's gas or electricity, so he shut it off after a while. He'd tried and failed to sneak in a nap then, unable to focus since his thoughts were preoccupied with concern about how Yuu was feeling, what he was doing, who he was visiting.

Mika groaned aloud, banging his head along the back of his chair. If Yuu didn't come out soon, he was going to have to march inside the hospital and find something to do before he went insane.

Thankfully, only a few more minutes passed before the ravenette emerged from the hotel doors, ambling toward the car. He opened the passenger seat and slid inside without a word. Mika could see his black hair looked more disheveled than usual, and his arms bore a few scratch marks, with red splotches in the form of a hand on his wrists.

"How'd it go?" Mika asked, realizing Yuu wasn't going to say anything unless he spoke first.

Yuu merely shrugged, resting his cheek in his palm and gazing out the window. "Fine. We can go home. I'll direct you out."

Normally, Mika would have passed off Yuu's behavior and drove, figuring that his succinct manner was due to his visit to the hospital just now, but he couldn't let those cuts and marks pass. "Yuu, did something happen in there?"

Yuu's body grew rigid, his tone taut, though he didn't turn to Mika. "I said it's fine, didn't I?"

"Just because you say it's fine, doesn't mean it actually is."

A frustrated huff left Yuu. "Just drive. Please. I want to go home."

Mike turned on the engine at the slight plea in his voice, though he knew if he left the topic go undiscussed, Yuu would drop it. While Mika didn't want to push Yuu away, he did need some answers from him, if only to make sure Yuu was truly fine. So, he silently pulled out of the hospital lot and turned onto the main road. When his eyes caught sight of a certain sign, he took an unexpected turn, causing Yuu to turn to him with furrowed brows.

"This isn't the way home. This is to a nature preserve."

Mika shrugged, keeping his eyes on the winding road before them. "I know. It's exactly what I want."

Yuu glared, his jaw tightening. "This isn't funny. I'm really not in the mood for one of your pranks, Mika."

"It isn't a prank." Mika made a turn finally seeing a parking lot. "I just want to make a stop and talk."

Yuu was almost hesitant in speaking his next words. "Talk about what?"

Mika found a parking spot and shut off the engine before swiveling toward Yuu. "I want to talk about you."

"Well, I don't." Yuu crossed his arms and rolled his eyes. "Great conversation, can we go home now?"

"No," Mika said firmly. He needed to communicate how he felt to Yuu, hoping that would convince him to open up . "Not until you tell me something. I don't want you to feel attacked, and I know I can come off as a jerk who likes messing with people, but I'm just concerned." He sighed, his shoulders deflating as his voice softened. "You don't have to disclose everything to me, but please, just tell me something. I drove you here and watched you despondently give me directions. And then you enter the hospital and come back out with injuries. Can you blame me for wanting to know what's going on and if you're okay?"

Yuu grew quiet for a moment, his eyes dropping to his lap, his posture slumping into the seat. "My sister was in the hospital. She has aneuromuscular disorder that sometimes lands her in the hospital when she can't breathe. I'll spare you the details, but sometimes certain muscles fail her. It sucks."

Mika's heart sank upon hearing the news, understanding why Yuu had seemed so torn up about it on the drive. "I'm sorry to hear that."

"I'm kind of used to the constant worry of it by this point, but thanks. And if you're worried about the scratches, eventually the nurses escorted me out and I bumped into a wall and into a few other things once I left." He feigned a smile and a laugh. "I'm a bit clumsy, what can I say?"

Mika's eyes fell onto Yuu's arm, seeing a few small, irritated marks that looked like they could be caused by fingernails, rather than a wall. Some of the red hand-looking splotches were beginning to fade, but Mika still knew that unless the nurses had forcefully dragged Yuu out, there was something deeper to it. And though Mika didn't want to assume, he knew some of the hints that were there.

"You're lying to me." Mika kept his voice soft, trying not to sound accusatory. "You're being abused, aren't you?"

Yuu went ridged, the lines of his face hardening. "No, of course not. I told you-"

"The black eye…that personal crap you mentioned…that's it, isn't it?"

Yuu didn't respond; he merely fixed his gaze out the window, his jaw clenched.

"You know I won't judge you for it, right? I was abused too, when I was little. I'm sure you don't know, but I was raised in an orphanage from when I was seven years old until now. It was a long time ago, but I still remember the rage on my parents' faces, I still remember the fear that filled me every time I saw them, I still remember how much it hurt, physically and emotionally. So, I understand."

Yuu stayed still, silent as seconds ticked by. As the silence dragged on, Mika didn't think Yuu was going to speak, but just when Mika was about to say something else, the raventte spoke, his voice low.

"You're right."

A small part of Mika had hoped that his guess had been wrong. He'd been hoping that Yuu would offer him some alternate explanation.

"Yuu, I'm so sorry."

He shrugged. "Don't be. I kind of bring it upon myself."

Mika straightened, shaking his head. His eyes were wide with alarm at the words, his heart sinking. "No, listen to me. It is not your fault that you're-"

"No, I mean… You know how I told you about my sister?" Yuu twiddled with his thumbs, eyes focused on the hands in his lap. "Well, I kind of take the abuse so that my mom doesn't turn it on my sister… She doesn't always do it, just if she's angry or frustrated and one of us is around. I hadn't realized she hit my sister until I saw it for myself, so then I tried to make myself look terrible in her eyes. I figured then she would see my sister as the saint and would think of me as her punching bag."

Mika's expression saddened at the words. Yuu shouldn't have to experience something like that, he shouldn't have had to put all that pain and responsibility on himself.

"Did you ever tell anyone?"

Yuu's voice grew bitter, and he spat out the words like venom. "I did. And they told me I deserved it and brought it upon myself." His shoulders slumped, and Yuu brought his knees to his chest, wrapping his arms around his legs. "Then I was scared what would happen if I reported and it didn't work, then my mom would probably try to kill me, or take it out on Serena. And if I did report it, I wondered what would happen to my sister on the chance she was taken from the home or if my mom was put into jail. We don't have close family that would take her, my dad is sick, too, and couldn't take care of her. I doubt they would let me take care of her… At least with my mom she has shelter and food." He shrugged. "So, I stopped trying to tell anyone."

Mika's heart broke at the words. Yuu had thought so hard about this and he seemed so helpless and hopeless. There had to be something he could do to help, he couldn't leave Yuu alone in this, not after all that he had heard.

"She can come to the orphanage," Mika suggested, spouting the first thing that came to mind. "The director is a wonderful lady, and all the kids there are amazing. It could work!"

Yuu looked over at him, his eyes looking like they wanted to hope but were too afraid to.

"I appreciate the offer, but I can't impose on you guys. My sister is too sick, I can't ask your orphanage to provide medical care for her."

Mika shook his head, refusing to let Yuu give up on this when they had a plan that could work. "We can cover it, I promise. Here, why don't you come with me to visit? We could spend the night there, you could see the place, get a feel for it, talk with the Director, and then decide. How does that sound? And no, you wouldn't be a burden. The Director loves hosting."

Yuu chewed his lower lip. "I don't know…"

"You could think about it and give me an answer tonight. We could leave tomorrow at noon, spend the night there, and I could drive us back the next day."

Yuu sighed heavily. "I'll think about it."

That was enough for Mika. Relief flooded him and he smiled softly at his friend. "Okay, now, give me your phone."

"What? Why?"

Mika held out his hand. "Because I need to give you my number. That way, you can text me your answer."

"All right." Yuu dug his phone from his pocket and set it in Mika's hand. "Here."

Mika beamed, creating a contact for himself and inputting his number. "Beautiful. Now we can go home."

"Yuu, what happened?"

Yoichi's worried eyes settled on Yuu the moment he walked into their dorm. Yuu had made sure to text him an update about Serena's condition, but he was sure his scratches had caused some concern.

Yoichi sighed, shaking his head. "I take it your mom was at the hospital."

With a heavy exhale, Yuu nodded. "Yeah, she wasn't too happy."

"I can imagine. Is that where you've been the whole day? Did you do your class presentation?"

Yuu shook his head, cringing at the mention of the group project. He and Mika were in so much trouble…he was going to have to beg for mercy for another chance at it.

"I got the call right before the presentation so I left. Mika actually drove me to the hospital."

Yoichi raised an inquisitive eyebrow. "Oh?"

Yuu closed the door and crossed the room to lie in his bed, physically and emotionally exhausted from the day. "I ended up telling him."

"That you like him?"

Yuu's cheeks heated pink as he shook his head. "No!" He threw a pillow at Yoichi, who gracefully caught it and tossed it back with a laugh. "I mean, I told him about my family. Jeez."

Yoichi shrugged, a half-grin on his lips. "Forgive me for wanting the juicy details."

"I'm being serious!"

Yoichi chuckled a little. "I know, I know. So, you told him about your sister and about your mom? What'd he say?"

"He said he wants to help me. He knows an orphanage that might be willing to take my sister if I decided to report my mom. He offered to take me there for a night tomorrow."

Yoichi's face brightened at his response, looking hopeful. "If they could take her, that would absolve your fears. I mean, I know your dad is sick, too, but I'm sure you could figure out something for him. Are you going to take him up on the offer?"

"I don't know." Yuu's voice was thoughtful and quiet. "It almost feels too good to be true, like I'll go tomorrow and find out it was just a prank."

"I think you should take him up on the offer. I know you're scared to hope, but I think this could be what you need. And the worst is that you go tomorrow and find the orphanage isn't what you wanted. Then you can figure out a game plan from there."

"I hate it when you're right." He sighed, casting a glance at his roommate. "You really think I should go?"

Yoichi firmly nodded. "Absolutely. It'd be dumb not to. Do it for Serena's sake."

Yuu dug his phone from his pocket and found Mika's number.

 _'Mika, it's Yuu. My answer is yes. Let's go tomorrow.'_

 **A/N: Guess who's back after taking ten million years to update! OKAY I'M SORRY IT'S TAKE FOR FREAKING EVER. I'M TERRIBLE. I did say I wouldn't abandon it (even though it's been like a year and a half but oopsies I've had so much life and school stuff that it's been rough). I graduate in May, so I'm really going to try and finish this before then, but I'm also working on my own novel that I plan to finish before then, so we'll just see what happens! I also actually planned this story out finially so that should help too. It's been so long since I've written for Mika and Yuu, but I hope that you all still enjoy this even after all of this time! Thank you for your reviews and support, it really means a lot and it helps me stay determined to finish this story! As always, feel free to drop a review to let me know your thoughts!**

 **TheCandyChild - You finally got to see what happens! I'm so sorry for the wait, but I hope you still enjoy it!**

 **Sparklestar2002 - I hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as the rest! You'll find out about the school project two chapters from now!**

 **\- She hasn't gone berserk mode yet, so thankfully you don't have to worry about threating a fictional character for a while!**

 **BitterArchfiend - Thank you! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!**

 **NotinREALITY - I'm glad you're liking the story! Thank you so much!**

 **jaredhal0 - Thank you!**

 **Arianna76 - I'm glad you love it! Apologies for the updating delay!**

 **NekoRyuuKo - *moves out of the way of the flying table* I'M SO GLAD YOU LOVE IT! I hope you enjoyed this chapter as well!**

 **ThatcrazyJalphfan - Aww thank you so much! I'm so glad you like it, and I'm glad I could finally give you an update!**

 **Kigen Dawn - I will say, there is definitely more in store for Yuu!**

 **525Clouds - Haha thank you! I'm happy to know you're enjoying it!**


End file.
